Clever Little Lab Rat
by Akema Kurosawa
Summary: A normal girl from a small normal village isn't all what she appears to be. When she meets a clinically insane boy who's a genius at machinery, she finds herself on a journey with him. With many arguments along the way, she fears that they'll never get along. Will this boy lead her down the rabbit hole to insanity, or will she show him what he was missing all along?
1. Chapter 1

' _It's such a beautiful day outside…_ ' Thought a lonely girl.

She was leaning on the railing of her porch balcony, gazing out at the scenery before her. It was a lovely day outside, with the sky bright a blue, accompanied by a few white clouds here and there. Having the sun beat down against her skin while cool winds flew through the air made the lonely girl feel rather pleased. She smiled down at the sight of her village, hidden within the multiple trees in the surrounding forest.

The landscape of the village worked like this: the village was surrounded by hills and mountains, along with multiple trees, and a few streams. It was in the shape of a type of dome with the village right in the center. It was rather hidden, but there was still multiple ways to get in and out of the place. There was multiple paths through the mountains and hills. Even though they were rather narrowed, it was still passable. But even though her village was "hidden," it was rather popularly know by travelers. After all, her village was made for these types of things.

The village was rather small to the girl. Everyone knew everybody, even though multiple people come and go. Everyday was basically the same for the village. But, that was okay. It made sense to why it was never changing. The place was known, but not well known. New things do come to the village, but it was easy to adapt to the new changes and surprises. Travelers and Merchants visit often, which made some days busy and other days slow and boring. To her, it was average.

Releasing a sigh, she pushed herself off of the railing so she was standing upright. She turned and entered into the gigantic home that was hers. Her home was rather special to the village, being the only house that was away from the town, and on one of their many hills. Plus, if that wasn't enough to stand out between the standard wooden houses, the gigantic, dark stone mansion that the girl lived in might as well been it.

The lonely girl walked through her large house towards the lower floor so she could exit the building. Passing a few mirrors once in awhile, she couldn't help but glance at every reflection made. It was a habit she had that she didn't know why she did it. She just assumed it was a human instinct by now.

With a bit of a hop in her step, she grabbed a wooden basket off of the table before exiting the building. Once she went through the exit, she gazed up at the sky again and smiled. The cool breeze flew by again, moving her hair and dress with it, making her feel a bit of chills. With a smile on her face, she treaded down the path to her village.

The path that takes her to her town is, on average, a twenty minute walk. When she made it to her village, the smile held on her face. A few folks waved at her, and of course she waved back out of politeness. A few kids ran pass her, causing her to giggle at their loud conversation about toys. She found that today seemed to be busy with people. Whenever she accidentally bumped into someone, which happened every now and then, she immediately apologized and made sure the person was alright. This was an everyday occasion for her in all honesty.

And, just like her everyday occasion, she was stopped by a very familiar face. A small boy called her name, causing her to halt her walking and turn in that direction. She smiled when she saw him running towards her. They skidded to a stop, huffing slightly, as they gazed up at her and spoke up in a soft tone.

"Hey," the boy in blue greeted in between breaths. "I think… I think I got that invention down, finally."

The boy was four years younger than her. He wore a blue shirt that had large sleeves, accented with a dark shade of blue. His pants were beige while his shoes being his usual brown boots. He was a skinny thing, so his clothes looked like bags on his body. His hair was a messy shade of dark brown, which so happened to be the same color of his eyes. His pale skin told anybody that he doesn't spend much time outside, which was a regular thing for him. Drives his father off of the walls all the time...

"That's great!" Beamed the girl as her eyes light up. "You've been hidden away in your barracks for, what, three days now? It must've been real hard if it took you of all that long, haha!"

"Tell me about it…" Muttered the boy as he finally gained his breath.

"So, what does it do again?" Asked the girl as she gazed at the creation in his hands.

"Well, the short version of it is that it's a generator." The boy stated. The girl began walking again, causing him to follow her as he continued to talk. "It took a lot of time to make… I've been trying to work on a way that machines can function without a super big power source like the ones we use. You know, so we don't recreate the Human Nosad War, and drain the El all over again…"

"Clever as always," the girl commented and ruffled his hair, giggling when he gave her a playful glare. "So, you gonna tell me how it works?"

"Well…" He twisted a few part on the small contraption.

The two stopped and gazed down at the machinery in his hands. It began to glow a faint light as a humming noise came from it. But, sudden smoke came from the object and it began rattling. A small part of the machine flew off, flying right past them, and embedding itself right into the wall of a nearby house. The boy turned it off quickly and watched it die down. He waved the smoke away as the girl stepped back, noticing the small bit of attention it gained.

"...There's still a few kinks I need to fix." Muttered the boy in a disappointed undertone.

"Yeah," agreed the girl as she waved the smoke away from her face. "Knowing you, you can probably fix it in moments. But, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" The boy muttered before waving his other hand towards her face. "Gloves, see? There my dad's smithing gloves, so I'm fine."

"Of course," chuckled the girl as she patted his shoulder. "Well, good luck to your invention. It'll definitely change the world some day."

"Hnn…" The boy nodded and began tampering with his invention again while walking away.

"Oh! Jacob!" The girl called out to him before he escaped her sights. He stopped and lifted his head up towards her in confusion. "Tell your mom and dad I said hi! And to be wary about cats! We don't want another incident about that."

The boy, who was named Jacob, smiled lighted as amusement at the memory she was referring to. He waved to her before turning back around and heading through an alleyway between houses. The girl turned and continued walking. As she did so, she entered into the more bustling part of the village and made her usual rounds. Many merchants set up around that area, so she decided it was time to see what things they had.

She snatched a few pieces of food, like tomatoes, potatoes, onions and celery. Of course she paid for each item. If she didn't then the town would drive her out of there with pitchforks and torches. After her basket filled up quite a bit, she weaved her way out of the crowd and towards the more "quieter" parts of town. More of the older residence lives in that area, and maybe a family or two, but that's what makes it the girl's favorite area. She passed by a few elders and greeted them back when they acknowledged her walking by. They were the more politer part of town, if anything.

Making her way through, she spotted the familiar face of her favorite person. That person being a little old lady. She was a good foot shorter than the girl, being the age of 62, with a hump in her back slowly forming. Her dark black hair was tied into a loose bun with a few strands of gray showing. She was wearing her regular dark purple dress that practically hid her feet. The older woman was doing her usual routine of sweeping her porch of any leaves or dirt that might have gotten on it. When she lifted her head, her chestnut eyes shined as she spotted the girl walking towards her.

"I was wondering when you were going to visit," teased the woman as the girl walked through her open gate. "You're late by twenty minutes."

"Sorry, _Halmoni_ Eleousa." The girl apologized and gave an awkward smile. She held her arms out and gave the woman and hug. "I just wanted to buy you some vegetables before I arrived." She released her and lifted the basket as evidence. "See? All your favorites. And I was also hoping you'd show me how to make that soup again…"

"Hehehe," laughed the older woman named Eleousa. She flashed the girl a sly grin and patted her head. "Alright, alright. Though, I fear you're a bit late for lunch."

"Leftovers are always an option," the girl suggestion with a light laugh.

They entered the small house the older woman owned. The house had a second floor, but it wasn't all that grande. Not that it mattered to the girl. She found it comfortable no matter what. The simple smell of vanilla always brought calmness to the girl whenever she stepped through that door. It always smelled like that thanks to the baking goods Eleousa always made. The girl went to the kitchen to place her basket on the table. She looked back to the woman and kept smiling. There was never a time the girl had where she didn't smile around the elderly woman.

She traveled to the living room and took a seat next to her. They began talking, just having a normal conversation with each other. They giggled and laughed at a few jokes they told and had their usual gossip. They always did this, everyday, on the dot. If one was late, then they would stay at least half an hour longer than usual to make up for time.

It was just an average day for the lonely girl.

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	2. Chapter 2

Everything was calm and peaceful that night…

...Until the warning bells rung.

The lonely girl had gone back home that day and went to bed after her regular visit to Eleousa. But, her peaceful sleep didn't last long as she was startled awake by the loud bells that rang through the village. She sat up in her bed, now being wide awake and alert. She knew those bells well. They were the warning bells, signalling through the village that danger was around. The girl jumped out of her bed and ran to the balcony and looked out to the village. When she gazed at the sight before her, her jaw practically dropped to the floor.

There was a large orange and red glow through the village. _Fire_. There was fire throughout the village. Even from where the girl was she could hear screaming and commotion echoing off of the mountain walls. Disaster was striking her village. Eyes widening in shock, she found herself climbing over the railing without hesitation.

She then jumped off of the balcony railing without even a second thought. When her feet touched the ground she continued the momentum by tucking and rolling so her legs didn't break on her. Once she stopped she stumbled to her feet and began running to her village, her white nightgown flapping behind her. When she got there, she was horrified by the sight.

Buildings were on fire, and people were running throughout the place. It was hard for her to imagine that her stable village was now in utter chaos. She heard laughing and screaming, things breaking and utter destruction all around. Gazing back and forth, she spotted large men in dark clothing, breaking windows or stealing things, even from burning buildings. The girl wasn't just scared or confused anymore.

She was pissed.

Before she could even do anything, she witness an explosion. She stepped back, arm flying up, as she was startled by the event. She pulled her arms down and stared at the large fire now coming from a building. She was trying to process what exactly she just saw. Her village was being destroyed right before her very eyes, and here she stood in nothing but her brown body suit and white nightgown. She gazed around and witness some nearby bandits carrying out some type of expensive objects. Snapping out of her temporary shock, she knew she had to do something, even if it was the tiniest bit of help to her village.

"Hey! Those don't belong to you!" She shouted at them, grabbing their attention. "What do you think you're doing to my village?!"

"Shit, it's her!" Shouted one of the bandits.

"Let's scram!" Shouted another bandit.

"H-hey! Don't run away from me!" The girl shouted at them and began her pursuit.

She began chasing after the bandits who were causing trouble, completely ignoring her fellow villagers that ran in the other direction. It was strange how they recognize her, but she didn't have time to think about that. She had to stop them from harming her village more than they've already had.

The girl ran quite the distance after them, but she soon lost them when she found herself in the middle of the town square. Her running came to a halt, shocked by the amount of flames that was all around her. She could only stare, doing a complete turnaround in horror a what was happening to her dear village. It was nothing but destruction and chaos.

Buildings were set aflame, blazing like the hot summer sun. Pitch black smoke lifted into the air, allowing white ash to fall upon the ground. The girl could practically feel the heat from the fire as they were practically cooking her skin. She felt like her gown would catch fire if she wasn't careful of where she stood. It didn't help her stomach that she just noticed bodies littered around the place. She knew that the smell in the air wasn't just smoke. She covered her mouth with both hands, trying not to vomit at the sight before her. Her precious village was slowly turning into a burning hell.

Little did she know of the figure that crept up behind her. The girl had turned around a little too late. All she caught was the looks of a masked man in dark clothing, only to feel something slam against the left side of her head.

 _ **BAM!**_

The girl's body practically went limp and she fell to the ground. Her ears were ringing, just like the first time she had shot a gun. Her eyesight had gone blurry, as it felt like she was looking through murky water from the pond near the village. She could only comprehend the feet of her attacker before everything went black.

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The girl's head felt like a drum when she awoke.

Her brain practically throb against its skull, as if it was trying to break through. A soft whimper escaped her lips as she tried lifting her hand to her head. But as she tried doing so, she felt her hands get tugged back. Confused, she opened her eyes, having to blink a few times to see clearly. The first thing she saw was her hands stuck together in cuffs.

Confused by why that was, she lifted both hands up so she could touch her head. She winced at the sharp pain from the left side, gently trying to sooth the pain. Once it calmed she gazed straight up, seeing as she was lying down. She stared at the ceiling, seeing as it was a cloth of some sort, and felt like her body was spinning slowly. She grimaced and tried to move.

Slowly, with the help of pushing with her elbows, she got herself sitting up. Her eyes cleared up as she was now aware of her surroundings. The girl realized she was in a moving vehicle of some kind. A carriage, maybe? Or possible a supplies wagon. Either way, she wasn't where she was suppose to be.

The girl gazed around the place, seeing that she had slept on what appeared to be bags of flour. All around the wagon was various items. From bags to wooden crates, to rope tied to boxes and bits of furniture. It was a strange combination, she'll say that. She gazed back to her hands, seeing long steel cuffs on them. She tried moving her legs, but realized her movement was limited as it, too, was chained together. She huffed in annoyance at the sight before gazing around again.

' _Just where exactly am I?_ ' The girl wondered. She then gasped aloud, her eyes wide in shock. ' _My village..._ ' she remembered. ' _I remember the flames and all… I got attacked by one of those—those bandits. But…_ ' She gazed around again. ' _Why was I taken here?_ '

As she was questioning everything, the carriage suddenly jolted, almost knocking the girl down. Somehow she managed to keep balanced and sat up again. She heard the ride creak as it came to a stop. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she gazed to her left, where she guessed the driver would be.

The sound of cloth being pulled back grabbed her attention, causing her to look to her right instead. She grimaced as bright sunlight seeped into the dark carriage, hitting her right in the eyes. Shielding her eyes with her hands, she blinked furiously as they watered slightly. Once she adjusted, she heard a low chuckle, causing her to gaze at the one responsible for opening the back of the carriage. There stood a man in dark clothing with a type of animal mask on his face. The girl shivered as her back tensed up.

He was the one to knock her out.

"Good to know see our precious cargo's awake," chuckled the man. "I almost feared that I knocked you out too hard."

The girl's eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "...Where are you taking me?"

"Now, where's the fun in telling you that?" The man climbed into the carriage and strolled pass her. "You don't get to know. But, let's just say a specific amount of people are willing to pay thousands for a runt like you."

"What did you do to my village?" The girl demanded.

"Straight to the point, I see," darkly chuckled the man. He turned to her and leaned down, forcing her to lean away from him. "Let's just say, that your village isn't so 'hidden' anymore. Hehehehe."

Her eyes widened in horror as she was afraid to imagine the state of her home. The man leaned away from her and went back to doing whatever he was doing. The girl watched him like a hawk, watching him search for an item. When he found the item, he quickly snatched it up and made his way to the end of the carriage.

"It's kind of comical when I think about how easy it was to capture you," the man said walking by. "How can a little girl like you be the destruction of so many laboratories and towns?"

She glared at him fiercely, not saying a word.

"What? Now cat's got your tongue? How amusing." The man snickered at her before hopping out of the carriage. He grabbed the white cloth that covered it. "Be a good little girl, alright? We don't want anymore of your villagers killed, do ya?"

"Villagers…?" The girl's eyes widened in horror as anger covered her features. "Just what have you done to the villagers?!"

The man laughed at her before closing the carriage, allowing the girl to be back in darkness. She could still hear his laughing as he walked away. The girl's tense shoulders slouched as she stared at the carriage, unsure of what to do. She hanged her head down in shame, fearing for the town's folk that's been captured. The lonely girl stayed in the darkness of the carriage, allowing it to take her away to wherever it was going.

She felt truly alone.

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The girl doesn't know how long she's stayed in the carriage.

Hours? Days? She had no answer for it.

All she knew is that it felt like eternity.

The girl had tried standing up and move around, but it was hard to do in a moving carriage. Not only that, but her feet had a limited amount of space she could move with the chains. So, she just remained sitting in the center of the carriage, staring at the back of the cloth as light would seep in every now and then. When it did, she tried to take a guess at the time.

It has been hours since the man had entered, and she could tell that it was becoming night time. Through that time, she decided to reflect on her life and allow her thoughts to take over. She wondered about the villagers that have been taken captive, and how on earth she was going to help them. She wondered if they were okay, and if they were in better condition then she was in. Even though she wished for them to be safe and alright, she knew that it wasn't true.

At some point she tried to listen carefully to see how many people were around her. And, from what she's heard, there was a lot. She assumed there was around three to four carriages, just like he one she was held in, and she heard many horses around her. It was clear that escaping wouldn't be a walk in the park.

Eventually she began wondering how they found her, and what they wanted with her. It was clear to her now that she was one of the targets they were after. Thing was, who found her, and ordered the attack? Knowing she was the thing that was responsible for the destruction of the village broke her heart. She felt like she didn't have a place in the world anymore.

' _Maybe it's best that I remain a prisoner…_ ' she thought as she was losing hope. ' _If I had never escaped that day, maybe the village would be alright. If only I hadn't gazed around like an idiot back then, maybe I could've saved everyone. God… I'm path_ —'

A sudden jolt of the carriage snapped her out of her thoughts, also causing her to fall face first. She caught herself and sat up again, now hearing the shouts of men yelling at each other. The girl was puzzled as to why the carriage stopped, and what all the shouting was about. But she got her answer when she heard something explode near by.

"W-what was that?!"

"We're being attacked! Grab your weapons!"

"Where did it come from?"

"Don't stop, you idiots! Keep moving!"

The carriage lurched forwards and began moving again. The girl felt her body begin to lean to the side and allowed herself to fall onto the bags of flour. Realizing that they're focused on running, this could be a good idea to escape! She was actually hoping she could get to the destination and just escape then, but she couldn't just let this chance slide. Who knows when she'll get another chance like this again.

She looked at the chain that connected the cuffs on her hands. They weren't long enough for her to grab, sadly. So, clutching her fist tightly, she began pulling her arms away from each other. With a small grunt, the chains snapped apart and fell to the floor. Having her hands maneuverable, she grabbed the chain connecting her ankles and began pulling. Soon enough, those broke too, causing her to throw herself back into the bags of flour.

' _Sometimes, I'm grateful to be a lab rat,_ ' she thought and stood up carefully.

The girl stood and backed up while facing the end of the carriage. This will be a huge risk for her to take. As she tried hard not to think about the other prisoners, she took a step forwards and began running. She leapt off of the carriage and flew through the cloth, her arms and legs out in front of her as she flew.

She tucked her body together and felt it slam into the ground. She tried to tightly keep herself into a tucked up ball and allowed herself to roll around multiple times. When the momentum slowed down, she released herself and grabbed onto the ground to hopefully stop her dizziness. Her sides were burning in pain from the crash landing, but she ignored it for now and looked back to the carriage to see a few men on horses stop to turn around.

"The prisoner is escaping!" Shouted one man.

"After her!" Exclaimed another. "I didn't waste all that ammo just for her to escape!"

Quickly taking it as the sign to scram, the girl forced herself to her feet, which caused her to stumble. The two men on horses began charging after her. There was just no way she could outrun two horses. Seeing them coming at her, she lifted her hands up, having them in fist, as she glared at them charging at her. One man had a type of wooden club while the other had a sword. As soon as they got close to her they swung their weapons at her head. The girl dropped to the ground, dodging their attack. She quickly got back onto her feet as they began turning around and began running towards the stopped carriages.

' _I have to save the villagers!_ ' She thought.

She ran past the carriage she was captured on, only to skid to a halt at what she saw. Each of the carriages was on fire. One was completely destroyed while another was toppled over. Whatever happened here was a real good reason for why the bandits were running.

Suddenly, she saw some type of purple lights get fired at a few bandits, taking them out instantly. The girl realized that they were a laser of some sort. She took a step back and away from the carriage, staring in the direction the shoots came from. The bandits began running away, either getting knocked out from each other or get shot down. That's when she noticed a boy come out from the middle of all the chaos.

The girl suddenly felt alarmed when she saw the boy. He couldn't have been older than her, in all honesty. From what she could tell, he was the main cause for all this mess. He was firing these lasers at the bandits with six floating machines. And, much to her dismay, he looked to be having one hell of a time at it.

But, before she could analyze him anymore, a shout from behind grabbed her attention. She whirled around, only to see one of the men on horses give out a war cry as he swung his club a her. She jumped back and dove to the ground, dodging his attack. She sat up to run, only to see the horseman with a sword right before her. He swung down with his sword and she brought her arms up to protect her head, squeezing her eyes tightly as she expected incoming pain. But instead, she heard a loud noise made by metal.

Moving her arms, she saw the sword fly out of the horseman's hands. He turned his head, only to get shot off of his horse. The animal, now spooked, ran in the opposite direction in fear. The girl gazed up just in time to see the man with a club get shot as well. She flinched when he smacked into the ground as she felt her own sides beginning to throb in pain. Her arms fell to her sides in shock as she stared at the destruction that was made in a matter of minutes.

She was correct about there being four carriages. One was destroyed, the other toppled over, another one on fire, and the carriage that she had been trapped in was unharmed, somehow. She noticed a lot of the bandit's bodies were scattered around, either unconscious or dead. And she had no doubt that there was a few dead.

"That was rather boring," spoke a rather soft voice, grabbing the girl's attention. "But, at least I know my new enhancements work, kekeke!"

To the girl's shock, it was the boy, who was now standing in her line of sight with his back towards her. He suddenly turned and faced her, and when he did that she could make out more detail than before.

He had white hair, pale skin, and these freakish pink eyes. His left eye seem to glow, which didn't help but make her skin crawl. The clothes he wore were strange, since it was a white jacket with matching pants, while his shirt was black with a type of symbol on it. She also noticed a type of choker or collar on his neck. But what caught her eye was the strange, pink marking on his left eye. It looked to be a scar, but it had a pinkish glow. He was kind of scrawny to her, but even so, the look on his face gave her the chills. The smirk on his face was… almost psychotic.

"Ah, now here's the prize," he said once he faced her.

He began walking towards her, along with these strange floating object around him. Usually, she would be scooting away or trying to run as far away as possible from someone like him. But, she was still too shock from before to do any of that.

"Ugh, you're filthy." He commented after squatting down her her level. He flicked a piece of dirt away that was in her hair. "You should take a bath or something. Well, you have been captive for a good amount of days. I guess it's to be expected…"

"W-who…" The girl's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Who are you…?"

"You can call me Add," smirked the boy. "Now, I have a few questions for you." ' _Oh dear goddesses…_ ' "You were those bandit's 'special cargo'. They mentioned that you practically cost a fortune. Now, why is that?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Hell if I know..."

"Don't play coy with me." Add chided, but his face still held amusement. "You know exactly why you got caught. Plus, it's rather curious as to how you broke your restraints." His gazed shifted to the cuffs on her wrist and ankles. "How'd you break out of those?"

"...I broke out of them myself." She stated and held his gaze.

"But _how_ did you do it?" Add restated his question.

"...Why do I have the feeling that you already know why?" The girl asked as her tone held a bit of venom.

Add chuckled, but didn't deny her statement. "Sharp, I see. How interesting indeed."

He stood up again and held his hand out to her. The girl flinched back, staring at his hand with narrowed eyes. Add rolled his eyes at her suspicious glare.

"Come on, come on," he impatiently said and wiggled his hand. "We don't exactly have all night. More of those bandits could be around, you know. Now, what's your name? It's only fair to know."

She stared at him for a bit. Reluctantly, she roughly grabbed his hand. "Luana…"

"Luana…" Add repeated her name before yanking her to her feet. His smirk seemed to have widen more as he released her hand. "Well, we best get going."

"What about the others?" The girl, Luana, asked before turning towards the carriages.

"Others?" Add paused and raised a brow at her.

"One of the bandits told me he had prisoners," Luana said as she began jogging towards one of the carriages. "We have to make sure they're alright!"

"You're wasting your time," Add called out to her as she made it towards the flaming carriage. "Nobody's here besides me, you, and all of the unconscious bandits."

"No, that's imposs—" Luana paused as she gazed inside "—ible..."

Nothing was inside besides boxes of food and bags. Stepping away from the flaming carriage, she ran to the other one. Then the other. What the boy had said was right. There was nobody else but them. Luana's hands slowly turned into fists. If the bandits didn't take any prisoners, then it was definitely clear that she was their target all along. They attacked her own village, just to kidnap her.

"What did I tell ya." Add said and walked past her. "You were lied to." He jumped onto a broken beam from the carriage and walked along it. "I guess they made that up to make you hesitate in escaping. Clever, don't you think?"

Luana's fist tightened as she silently fumed. She took in a deep breath and calmed herself. She turned to Add to see him hop off of the beam.

"Nothing of value is in there, believe me." Add said in a bored manner. "Now, if you're done, can we go now? We have a long day ahead of us."

"Why do you keep saying 'we'?" Luana questioned him. "And where would you take me?"

"I saved your life." Add stated in such a quiet voice that it was practically threatening. "Those bandits would have probably sold you as a slave if I hadn't done something about it. Since I saved you, you owe me a favor. Therefore, you'll be following me to the local village to do an errand for me. Then, once that's done, you and I can both be on our ways. You can go home, and I will be getting what I need done. Understand so far?"

"What if I don't want to?" Luana said and took a step back.

"Sorry, but that's not an option." Add stated as the floating objects around him began sparking a type of electricity. "Now, you either be a good girl and follow me, or I shock you into oblivion and leave you here with these guys. Your choice."

Luana stood tall and eyed him carefully. Sweat began to form on the back of her neck as she stared at the objects behind him nervously. Those things took out every single one of the bandits that caught her. Probably even killed. What's to say that he wouldn't do the same to her? ' _Unless…_ '

"You wouldn't dare." Luana took a shot as she continued to eye the weapons.

"Huh...?" Add made a face, which scared Luana even more.

"...You wouldn't dare harm me," Luana continued to stand strong. "You need me for that 'errand,' right? Clearly it's important to you. _I'm_ important to you. By me being injured, I would lose my importance, right?"

Add stared at her with an unreadable face. She kept eye contact, trying to not show her actual fear and nervousness. Suddenly, Add's weapons stopped sparking and went back to what Luana assumed was "normal". They circled his body before what Luana assumed was latching onto his belt from behind. Add turned his back to her and chuckled, causing Luana to raise a brow at him.

"Clever. You're sharper than I thought." Add said before looking over his shoulder and glaring at her. "But you're still following me. I'm your only source of information at the moment. You still need my help, right?"

Luana stiffened and glared back at him. Thing was, he made a point. A very annoying point. She gazed around the area quickly and didn't recognize it at all.

Plus, he seemed to know a lot about her, whether she stated it or not. Add was clearly dangerous and a big threat to her right now. Plus, there was no way that this "errand" of his was the only reason he wanted her to follow him. But, if he does keep to his word, she would be able to go back to the village and make sure if everybody is alright...

' _That is, if they will still welcome me back…_ ' She grimly thought. Luana released a big sigh and hanged her head in defeat. She couldn't say no. Add smirked at this and turned his back to her.

"Looks like we have an agreement." He said and began walking. "Follow me and do try to keep up. I rather not have to go find you if you lost your way."

Luana made a face at his back, but reluctantly followed him. Little did she notice the mischievous smirk upon Add's face as they walked. Everything was going according to plan, and there was nothing Luana could do to stop it.

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	3. Chapter 3

Add had only been with this girl for five minutes and she was already annoying him.

After he convinced her in following him, they walked around the area to find a place to sleep. Add found a cave and decided it would be a fine place to stay. The girl, Luana, had went ahead and collected some wood for a fire. With a bit of time, she was able to make a fire by herself. Both of them stayed as far away from each other as they could in the small cave, clearly not trusting the other.

This caused Add to think. She clearly didn't trust him, but she still followed. He knew well that if she wanted to, she could easily escape from him, or even harm him. He thought he was going to have no choice but to knock her out, in all honesty. But, she surprised him by following. Even though she came, it was still clear she didn't like him. Add pretended to sleep and waited until Luana did herself. Once she was out like a light, he began looking through his tech carefully. After a few clicks here and there, he knew he was golden. Everything was going according to plan. As soon as they get to the nearby town he can go back to his original goal and forget this even happened. After everything was set, her closed his eyes to sleep.

Thing was, Add wasn't one for sleep.

So, after maybe an hour at most, he awoke and exited the cave. Having nothing better to do, he began going over his scanners again. He spent his time messing with his technology until the sun came up. He waited until the sky was blue before stopping. Not wanting to stay in the area longer than necessary, he went back into the cave to see Luana still sleeping. He used his foot and tapped her bum to wake her up.

"Oi. Get up." He ordered, making sure his voice was loud enough to get her stirring. "I don't have all day, I'll have you know."

Luana flinched at his voice and opened her eyes slowly. She sat up, her back facing him, as she was clearly drowsy from just waking up. Add noticed how she was still covered in dirt from her little escape stunt. He made a face at the dark stains on her white nightgown and chips of dirt in her wild hair. She needed maintenance, and _bad_.

"You're utterly filthy," Add grumbled while making a face. "Ever heard of hygiene?"

Luana turned her head and glared at him over her shoulder. "Sorry for being a prisoner who got kidnapped from her village."

"Even more reasons for a bath." Add stated and flicked a chip off of her shoulder. He turned and walked out of the cave. "There's a stream nearby. Go wash up there so we can get out of here."

Luana huffed at him, angry at his rudeness towards her. He annoyingly had a point. A rude point, but still a point. She had gotten used to the filth, so she had utterly forgotten about it until he said something. Taking in a big yawn, Luana stood up and stretched her limbs, only to hear jingling sounds of metal. She stopped and looked at her arms, only to remember about the remaining chains and cuffs on her ankles and wrist. She frowned at the sight, but knew she couldn't let them prevent her from doing stuff.

Add had stood at the entrance of the cave and quickly looked through his scanned data, utterly ignoring Luana's presence at the moment. Luana exited the cave and gazed at the sun, only now feeling it's warmth. She lifted her hand in the air and gazed down to where her shadow was. ' _At least 8 o'clock or so. Maybe even 9._ ' Putting her arm down, she noticed that Add had been right. She could see a glimpse of the stream nearby and could hear it.

Luana left Add, who still remained at the cave entrance, and entered into a bit of bushes and trees for some privacy so she could bathe. While she did that, Add spent his time by messing with his scanners until they were working perfectly again. Once they were fine, he gazed into the cave to see Luana gone. Looking at the sun, it looked like an hour had passed by or so.

"Shouldn't she be done by now?" Add asked himself and looked towards the stream.

Add sat down on a rock and waited a bit to see if Luana would come out. After twenty minutes passed, he knew something was up. His eye twitched in annoyance at the thought of her running away. It was annoying enough to get her away from those bandits. He _really_ didn't feel like going on another goose chase for the girl. Standing up, he made his way towards the trees and bushes. Once he made it through them, he was surprised to actually find Luana.

The brown haired girl was sitting on a giant rock that was right next to the stream, looking as damp as ever. The rock was perfectly aligned so the sun was beating down on her, probably drying her off faster. But Add was confused by what she was wearing. He noticed it before, but he never really realized _what_ it was since it was dark at the time.

Luana was wearing a type of brown bodysuit. It was an orange/brown color, and it looked rather strange. There was clearly a high collar on it that looked like it was held together by a button. It had short sleeves that were a transparent black. The bodysuit looked like it was sleeveless that ended in shorts with the seams on the side. It looked like she had a transparent shirt underneath it, but that probably wasn't the case. Maybe. He had noticed that she had a type of thick hair band on the two front pieces of hair that was in front of her ears, down near the ends of her hair, but only now realized that they were yellow.

The girl was just sitting on the large rock, staring at the stream that was going by. Add noticed that her white nightgown was lying in the middle of the sunlight on the rock. He guessed that she placed it on there to dry faster. Luana adjusted her sitting position, crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap. The jingling sounds of the metal rang through the air with each movement they made. She looked at peace...

"Just what are you doing?" Add spoke up as he stalked over to her.

Luana's head whirled in his direction as she was clearly startled by his voice. Once she realized it was just him, her body relaxed slightly. She turned her head back to the stream and stared at it instead of looking at him.

"Just… waiting." She shrugged her shoulders. "None of my clothes are dry yet..."

"We don't have the time for waiting," Add said and stood by the gigantic rock she was on. "We're on a time limit to get this errand done. Put your dress on and let's go."

"You want me to put on a wet, white dress." Luana looked down at him flatly. "Not only that, but my bodysuit right now is rather tight fitting because of the water. You seriously want me to put both articles of wet clothing on?"

"...Then carry it." Add hissed at her, finding her point rather stupid. "We don't have all day."

"Correction," Luana said sharply, " _you_ don't have all day. Enough with this ' _we'_ thing. It's annoying…"

Add felt his eye twitch. He was really beginning to get annoyed himself by this girl. As he was about to snap at her, the jingling sounds of the broken chains grabbed his attention. She adjusted her sitting position again, probably to get comfortable again.

Instantly his eyes landed on the metal cuffs. He raised a brow at her, not like she was looking at him anyways. She hadn't even made a move to try taking them off. He knew perfectly well that she could just tear the damn things off if she wanted too. So, why didn't she? He huffed through his nose before pulling himself onto the rock right next to Luana. She watched him from the corner of her eye, wondering just what he was doing. Once on top of the rock, staying in a squatting position, he held his hand out to her, causing her to gaze at his hand.

"Give me your wrist," he mumbled. "I can get those cuffs off."

Luana looked startled, pressing her wrist to her chest as if protecting them.

"No!" She replied sharply, almost panicky.

" ' _No'_?" Add quoted, clearly confused. "I'm not going to cut your limbs off if that's what you're afraid of."

"T-that's not it." Luana muttered and gazed away from him, looking troubled.

"... _Look_." Add held an unamused expression as he gazed at her. "I can't have you go through that town with broken chains and cuffs on your wrist and ankles. The town's people will gain the wrong idea. If that happens, I can't do what I need to get done, and you can't get home if those cuffs stay on. So give me your damn hands and ankles."

Add reached his hand out to grab her arm. Seeing this, Luana kicked herself away from him and managed to dodge his reach.

"No, you don't understand!" Luana exclaimed in a panic manner. "Y-you just wouldn't understand…"

Add's eyebrows furrowed in surprise at the sudden crack in her voice. He had no idea why she was being so emotional about this. If anything, a normal human being would be begging to get those cuffs off. They couldn't be a comfortable thing to have on, as he would know. ' _But, then again,_ ' he reminded himself, ' _she's not exactly "normal" in the first place…_ '

"Alright, fine." Add dropped his hand and stood up. "Doesn't matter. As soon as we get to that town, the cuffs come off. End of discussion."

Add jumped off of the rock and landed on the ground. He began walking away, already having enough of her, until Luana shouted something at him. He stopped walking and tilted his head to hear what she had to say.

"You just wouldn't understand!" She had exclaimed as her voice was a notched louder than her usual tone. "Nobody does..."

The white haired boy stood there for a moment before he turned to her. Luana's tone of voice went down immensely, but just enough for Add to hear. From how she talked, she sounded exhausted, as if the story physically drained her.

"Just… _Look_." Luana sighed deeply. "You clearly know _who_ I am and _what_ I am. I don't know how much you do know, so just… please listen to me…" She dipped her head down as if she was ashamed. "I know this sounds stupid, and weird, but it works, okay? When something is on my wrist and my ankles, I feel more in control of myself. I was never really in control of myself in the first place but… The sensation of having restraints on makes me feel like I can be a normal human being. I know that makes no sense whatsoever, but you have to believe me. If I don't have them on, I end up being unable to control myself, okay?..."

Add stood there, his eyebrow raised at her. She was right. He found that story utterly hard to believe. But, the expression on her face told him otherwise. It was like she was expecting his reaction to just shrug her off or something. When she said nothing more he turned his back towards her, shoving his hands into his pockets. She was becoming more troubling than he thought she'd be.

"...My errand's on a time limit, remember?" Add said. "Grab your dress and hurry up. I don't exactly have all day."

Luana flinched at his harsh tone, closing her eyes as she sighed through her nose. She knew he didn't believe her. It's always the same with everybody, after all. Luana sighed, hearing his foot steps walk away.

She grabbed her dress as she felt it was still half damp. Knowing there's nothing she could do about it while Add was around, she yanked the damp clothes on before hopping off of the rock. She was damp all over from the dip in the stream, so it was going to be a while before she was completely dry. It just annoyed her how her long hair would stick to her skin, but she had to deal with it. She had a suspicion that Add wouldn't exactly care if she mentioned it.

.

Luana had no idea how long they've been walking.

She had been mindlessly following Add, her head continuously becoming lost in thought. She just really wanted to get to that town and figure out how she could get back to the village. Even though she was the cause of the destruction of the place, she wanted to make sure everyone is okay. She wanted to go back, but at the same time she didn't. Knowing that it was her fault made it hard for her to want to go back. She wouldn't be surprised if they yelled at her, threw rocks, or even got pitch forks and torches. They had a right to hate her, after all…

The brunette shook her head softly, trying to shake away her negative thoughts. She gazed up at Add's back, wondering how far away this town really was. To be honest, this all felt too unreal for her.

Her village is set aflame by bandits, she gets kidnapped by said bandits, and then is save by some random stranger who is forcing her to follow him for some "errand" because he saved her life. To be frank, it was hard for her head to wrap around all of this. But, it also made her unnerved. It was clear that the bandits who abducted her wanted her for money. That money, though, is from someone who desperately wants her. Question is, from who?

You know what, no. She didn't even want to know who it was. There was too many to count, to be honest, but she had an idea of who. ' _Plus…_ ' she glared at Add's back. ' _There's no way in hell he saved me to be "nice" or "just". He wants something. He's after something. And he needs me to get to it. The thing is, I have no idea what this "something" is…_ '

"Ah, there it is," Add spoke up after a long time of silence.

"Huh…?" Luana snapped out of her thoughts and gazed at him.

"There's the town right there," Add said with a smirk on his face. "Took a bit faster than I thought it would. How lucky of us."

Luana stepped forwards and to the side so she could see over his shoulder. Her eyes widened at the sight of the town. Even from where they stood, the place was full of buildings and the streets look busy as people were going in and out of it. She gazed away from it, looking at her bare feet instead. It was too similar to her village.

"Stay here." Add ordered.

"Huh?... Why?" Luana asked.

Without even answering her, he walked off. Luana's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion while her facial expression read surprise yet angry. She huffed loudly as her shoulders sagged, watching Add's back until he disappeared. Once he was out of sight, she could only sigh out again as her anger disappeared. She instead directed her attention to the land.

How the landscape of the area was full of hills. But, from where she was, she was at the treeline of the woods. It was like a drop off from where the woods began. The town was built on the hills, but the land was clear of trees. It was more or less plains from what Luana could tell. She also spotted a long river flowing through the village, so there had to be multiple bridges here and there.

Listening to Add's ̶o̶r̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ request, she stayed where she was, and took a seat right under a tree. She basically hugged her knees to her chest as she gazed up through the leafs of the trees. The sun seeped through and onto her skin. A cool breeze passed by, causing her hair to shift. With a deep breath, she breathed out as she felt calm. She placed her head on top of her knees and closed her eyes, allowing sleep to keep her company.

When Add came back, he wondered just how long he took when he gazed at the sight of Luana. He had entered into the town and took a walk around until he found what he was looking for. Buying the items, he exited the town and headed right back to where he told Luana to stay. At least he wasn't disappointed.

Add hadn't realized she was asleep at first so he spoke to her. After the third sentence he realized she was unresponsive. He thought he was ignoring him at first, which annoyed him, but soon realized she was just asleep when he saw her face. She had stayed in a perfect sitting position, even though she was sleeping. Her arms were wrapped under her legs while her right cheek and chin were rested against the top of her knees. Her back lifted up slowly from her steady breathing. She was peacefully asleep.

But, Add couldn't exactly do anything if she was asleep. So, he poked her forehead repeatedly while talking loudly, trying to wake her up. She flinched from his poking and her eyebrows twitched, signalling that she was awake. Add pulled his hand away and watched her open her eyes. Luana rubbed her eyes like a child as she came back to reality.

"Mmn…" She hummed before covering her mouth to yawn. "...Are we going into the town now?"

"Not without taking those cuffs off first." Add stated.

Luana's eyes shot wide awake as she looked alarmed. Before she could say anything Add spoke up, while shoving a bag in her face, which caused her to lean a bit away. It took her a moment to register that it was a bag for her to take as she was still woozy from sleep.

"Calm down," Add grumbled as he sounded annoyed. "You just need something on your wrist and ankles and you'll be fine, right? Then you should put these on instead of those damn cuffs. At least these won't draw so much attention like loud jiggling cuffs and broke chains."

Luana slowly took the bag from his hands and peeked inside of it. She grabbed the items with wide eyes and took it out to examine it better. Specifically, there was at least four of these threaded items.

"Bracelets…?" She questioned.

"Better than nothing, right?" Add quickly said and looked away from her. "The sound of those chains are annoying, you know. Plus, the cuffs with scar your skin. Better for them to be off than keeping them on."

"Heh… Hehehe!" Luana broke out into a smile and giggled into her hand.

"What's so funny?" Add grumbled, eyeing her from where he stood.

"Nothing, it's just…" She smiled up at him with grateful eyes. "You actually listened to me. Most would've just brush it off or call me crazy. So, thank you, Add."

"Yeah, whatever," Add rolled his eyes. "Don't think this will be a common thing." He grabbed her empty hand and began to inspect the cuff. "Once these are off and you complete the favor, you can go home and I can be on my way."

Luana flinched at his harsh tone, not like he would notice. Something about how he said it hurt a little. But, the smile still remained on her face. She figured he had just brush off what she said like how many others had before. But, he had listened. It made her happy to know that he did something that many others had refused to acknowledge.

Add, ignoring her expression that he labeled as "dumb," began to figure out how to take the metal cuffs off. He got his machines, Dynamos, to help get it off her wrist. Once one was off, he worked on her other hand. When the two were off, he went to her ankles.

Luana rubbed her wrist, feeling uncomfortable with the absent sensation of the cuffs being off. She immediately put the bracelets on her wrist and ankles, making sure they were tied tightly. They were thin and colorful, but she knew there were definitely there. Add took each of the metal cuffs, seeing as they held no use, and tossed them into the woods. Luana watch them fly into a bush, but felt best not to question it. She simply gazed up at Add and waited for a response from him.

"Come on," Add turned on his heels and began walking towards the town. "Time is everything."

The girl watched him walk away from her. She quickly stood up and jogged towards him until she was closely behind him.

"Thank you, again," she quickly said to his back.

Add said nothing and continued, as if she hadn't even said a word.

Luana shrugged it off for now. Her eyes went back to her wrist as she held them out in front of her, gazing at the treads. Even though Add is mean and rude when he talks, she knows he definitely listens. She smiled lightly and put her hands down and gazed upon the back of his head. ' _...I guess he's not so bad after all._ '

.

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	4. Chapter 4

Luana was not expecting for the inside of the town to look like _this_.

It looked very clean, to be honest, and was bustling with people. Many people were around the town, either selling things or traveling through. She had to be honest; the town was prospering with people. It seemed advanced, and looked like it, too. Luana couldn't help but let the busy village captivate her.

Add continuously looked over his shoulder to make sure she was there and still following. He rather not have her get lost on him. He continued to lead the way, making sure to slip pass people rather easily. Luckily, nobody really seemed to bat an eyelash at them so much, so that was good. But, he had to say, Luana's constant questions about the place was getting on his nerves.

"Soo… What's the name of this village?"

"It's called Elder. Basically it's a merchant village."

"What do they sell?"

"I don't know."

"It's so busy… Is it always like this?"

"Hell if I know…"

"...Is that a dragon toy?"

"Grrr...You don't get out much, do you?" Add snapped at her, trying really hard to stay patient. He glared at her over his shoulder, causing her to gaze away from him.

"...You could say that," Luana admitted before raising a brow at him. "You don't talk to humans very much, do you?"

"No, and I prefer it that way," Add growled as he tried hard not to grit his teeth together. "We're almost at the place, so keep your mouth shut."

Luana made a face, clearly displeased by his rudeness. It annoyed her by how much he ordered her around as if she was some dog. It was really beginning to aggravate her. But, she complied and kept quiet, while continuing to stay close behind him. She's dealt with him this far. She's positive that she could make it the rest of the way… hopefully. Little did she know that Add felt like he was in bliss that she was silent.

They traveled through the town for a while until Add stood in front of a type of storage building. Luana stood behind him still, but was eyeing the building. Somebody would assume that it might be abandoned, or just empty at the moment. But, Luana had a feeling that it was anything but. Add turned and smirked down at her with a mischievous sort of glint in his eyes.

"We're here~" Add said in a way that gave Luana chills.

"...A storage house?" Luana questioned as she eyed the building once more.

"Yep." Add said and grabbed the door handle, but didn't turn the door knob. "This will be our last stop, kukuku..."

"Mind telling me what this favor is now?" Luana asked with her arms crossed over her chest, not making any attempt of stepping forwards.

"Don't back out on me now," Add said and stepped away from the door and towards her. "You'll see as soon as we get inside." He placed his hand on her back and began leading her towards the door. "Once we're in and done, you and I can act like we've never even met and go our separate ways. _Trust me_ on this."

"But what's inside." Luana stopped walking as soon as she was in front of the door, causing Add to halt as well. "This is a storage house. This town is full of people, yet hardly anybody is in this area. Isn't that a bit suspicious?"

"Like you said, it's a _storage house_ ," Add said while rolling his eyes like it was blatantly obvious. "This is a _Merchant Village_ , remember? No merchant would stay in the back of a town like this. If anything, they'd remain in the front of it, trying to reel in customers. Time is money, after all." Add wrapped his arm around her shoulders rather, making her uncomfortable, and smirked deviously at her. "Don't you _trust me_ ~"

With that said, he opened the door with his free hand and lead her inside. As soon as they were through the doorway, Add shut the door behind them and kept pushing her through. Luana's body was stiff as he was harshly grabbing both of her shoulders, clearly trying to get her into the place. As soon as they were in the center of the building, they stopped walking. Luana quickly noticed that the place was unreasonably dark. But, before she could do anything, he lights suddenly came on, revealing everything that was in the dark. And, by what she saw, Luana was horrified.

All around them stood many thug-like men, all dressed in dark clothing with weapons in hand. Each was of various sizes, shapes, and species, and they were clearly capable of battle. But what shocked her enough to cause her to gasp was the man sitting in a chair right across from her.

The man was old, probably around the age of seventy. His black hair was combed back and had multiple gray streaks in them. He wore glasses, which made it hard to see what his eyes looks like in the lighting. He wore black shoes, beige pants, a light green button up shirt and a long white lab coat. The man sat with his legs crossed and his chin in the palm of his hand. The familiarity of his smirk made it all the more real for Luana to realize it truly was him. A man she's been running away from for years was now sitting before her with a smug expression on his face.

"Ah, 727…" Sighed the old man as his devious smile remained. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? Oh, how big you've grown. How old are you now? Fifteen at the latest, yes?"

"Y-y-you're…" Luana could barely speak as her entire body was shaking so much.

"Nice to see you again, Dr. Lenchong." Add said smoothly. It was in such an innocent tone as well that it caused Luana to shiver in the shock of realization. "I did as you asked me and brought her to you. I do hope you kept your end of the bargain..."

"Oh, of course," chuckled the Doctor. "I always keep my word."

Luana turned her head and gazed at Add in horror. Her lips was trembling as she lost a good amount of color in her face. She knew something was odd about this "errand" but _this_? For the first time she look ready to burst out into tears.

Add just smiled and patted her shoulder and whispered, "Just _trust me_ ~"

He released his hold of her and walked right by her. The doctor stood up and lead Add a little bit away from where he was and grabbed a type of case. Luana could only stare at them in terror of what was going on, not even realizing that the circle of enemies around her actually tightened. The Doctor opened the case and revealed to Add what was inside.

"Just what you had asked for," said the Doctor. "Remaining parts of ancient Nasods, just as promised."

"Perfect~" Add purred in delight at the sight of the machinery.

"I thank you for your cooperation," Dr. Lenchong said smiling. "It's been years since she's escaped and has foiled many of our capture attempts. You were the first to successfully do it. I'll be paying you handsomely as a reward for your hard work and labor."

Luana gasped when she felt cold metal clutch her wrist. She gazed down to see a thick metal cuff and chain come from the ground. Soon enough, her right hand was grabbed as well. The chains yanks her arms back, crossing each other from behind, trying to yank her to the ground. She instantly began fighting the hidden machinery, refusing to be caught like this.

"It was a pleasure," Add said and shook the man's hand. "It was surprisingly easy. I think your precious lab rat has lost her touch over the years. Sadly, she didn't hold up a fight as I was expecting she would. I was hoping to at least get a taste of her power for myself in person."

Suddenly, Luana felt her arms crossed tightly against each other from behind her back. Just as they were yanked back, two more cuffs came from behind and got her legs. They tried to yank her back as well, but Luana leaned forwards in the opposite direction, trying hard to break free and escape. Her feet looked like they were digging into the floorboards as she tried fighting the machinery.

"Maybe you should visit our company some time?" Suggested the Doctor as he pulled out a card from his lab coat and handed it to Add. "Maybe then you can see the true limit of her strength. It's quite a sight to see. But first, we need to make sure she's house trained before then."

Just as Luana began fighting back, another metal cuff came from right under her and latched onto her neck. Becoming choked, the chain yanked her down to the floor, causing the girl to collapse. Her arms were restricted behind her back in a cross, her legs folded under her, as her neck was basically attached to the floor. She was captured. Luana could only glare up at where Add and the Doctor stood as she looked helpless. The Doctor finally looked at her with a smug expression.

"Seems our equipment finally managed to capture her well," the Doctor said before laughing lightly. "She's cost us so much money, haha. Well, I should get those tranquilizer darts. She might be restrained for now, but that won't mean she won't try something in the future."

"I don't think that's quite necessary," Add said as he shoved the card into his pocket.

"Hm?" Dr. Lenchong raised a brow at him. "Now, why would you say that?"

"Because," Add looked at the doctor with an expression that Luana could only describe as psychotic, "she's not going anywhere with you."

With a wave of his hand, Add's Dynamos shot at the doctor, causing the older man to fly back and crash into a bunch of boxes. Luana's eyes widened in shock, confused by what Add was doing. Didn't he betray her? The doctor's goons quickly looked at his direction and began advancing towards Add.

"Why you little—"

"Ah-ah-ah," Add shot the man down as he got close to him. "I don't take too kindly to threats."

Add quickly began taking down the men around him, slowly advancing to the area that Luana was at. Luana was actually impressed with how seriously he was fighting against such a large group of enemies. He constantly did this combo where he would kick the ground and electric shocks shot out and hit the goons. But the girl snapped herself out of her captivated thoughts and had to do something herself. Seeing this as a chance, Luana began fighting back against her chains. With a few grunts here and there, she managed to force her feet under her body and pushed up. She began fighting the cuff on her neck, but could only bring her head a good three inches off of the ground. As the same time, she began fighting against the chains on her hands.

Just as Add got to the center, he was a bit surprised by the awkward position she was in. Luana basically had her butt in the air while the cuff on her neck still restricted her greatly. But, she didn't care about how strange she looked. All she cared about at the moment was the fact that she began to feel the chains on her legs began to start pulling again.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled her arm from behind her as hard as she could. When she heard the satisfying sound of chains breaking, only then did she feel her hands actually be free. Add's smug face fell as it was replaced with shock. Even the goons had to stop at stare at the girl. Luana slapped her hands onto the ground, actually managing her dig her fingers through the floor of the building. At the same time, she pulled her legs up into the air and went against the pulling of the chains, only standing thanks to her hands.

The chains snapped when she did a full split in air. She got her feet under her and removed her hands from the ground. Luana threw her head back, forcing her body to stand up straight, officially snapping the chain on her neck like it was nothing. Her body hunched over as she was free from those restraints, her hair doing a good job at covering her facial expression. Her breathing was so loud that it sounded like growls as she gazed up at the men surrounding her.

"I don't so well in a captive space..." Luana growled before yelling out in rage. "I'm not your damn lab rat anymore!"

She whirled around towards the group behind her and threw a punch at the ground. The floorboards broke like it was nothing and began to cave in. The goons who stood in that direction tried running, but they weren't fast enough to escape the caving floor. Once they fell Luana stood up and turned to the crowd behind her. Just as she was about to speak again, a sudden glow of color grabbed her attention as it was flying fast at her.

Luana instantly reacted and jumped up high, only to see the spot she was standing in get blasted away. Once her feet hit the ground she didn't have time to question what it was. More blast kept getting fired at her, forcing her to dodge. Managing to weave her body around, she began running while dodging and eventually ran on top of a bunch of stacked up boxes. She continued to climb until she got up on a high enough place for her to see. On top of her perch, she could see the one firing at her was Dr. Lenchong with type of blaster in his hands. And he looked _pissed_.

"You will not escape from my hands again, you wretched brat!" declared the old man.

He fired at her once more, this time targeting the boxes under her. Luana jumped off of the boxes just in time, hearing them get destroyed, and allowed herself to fall towards the group of goons. She recollected herself and spun, keeping her leg out as she fell. Her heel slammed into the ground, breaking it and all around the group. She jumped as soon as it collapsed, letting the goons fall in once more.

Luana landed on more stable ground, ending up right next to Add without realization. She gazed around quickly to see that a lot of damage has been made to the storage house. There was a circular hole in the ground on one side while the other side had utterly collapsed, and there was plenty of burnt spots on the walls and support beams. Add smirked smugly down at her as she returned her attention on the goons around them.

"Think you can handle this yourself?" Add asked.

Luana was about to respond before she saw something flash in the corner of her eye. Not wanting to take a chance, she suddenly grabbed him by the back of his neck and forced him down. A blast shot right over their heads just in the nick of time, and instead hit a wall. After hearing the blast the two stood back up and gazed at the damage to the wall.

"I'll take the doctor, you handle the goons," Luana ordered before doing a backhandspring away from him, dodging another shot.

Add glared at her before facing the goons again as his hand rubbed the back of his neck. "Grabbing me so freely…" He growled before firing again.

Luana began climbing up boxes again, trying to get to the upper beams of the building. Of course, she had to dodge the continuous shots that came at her, but she was able to do it nonetheless. She was able to jump onto one of the beams and climbed on top of it. Once she was on top of it safely, she gazed down behind her and could see the entire area from where she was.

The amount of goons had decreased rapidly as Add was going at it like it was nothing. She could also see where the Doctor stood. He was on top of a bunch of boxes, now having his sights set on Add, and was firing while laughing maniacally. He probably went after him because Add was easily in his sights. Add was, at this moment, dodging the blasts rather easily while hitting down goons that got too close. Luana gazed around, trying to figure out what she could do to help him. That's when her eyes met the roof. She had an idea, but she had no idea if it would work. Taking in a deep breath, she stood up and shouted to Add.

"Add!" She shouted, which also revealing her location to the enemy. "Get to higher ground, now!"

"So that's where you escaped to!" Exclaimed the doctor as he pointed the gun at her. "You won't be able to run so easily!"

Luana yelped and leaned back when he fired a shot at her. She had no choice now. She had to run. Putting her plan into action, she began running along the beams while the doctor followed her movement.

"What is she…?" Add's eyes narrowed as he eyed her from afar.

Taking her warning, he turned and jumped onto a few boxes. Just as a goon's mallet came down at him, Add jumped over it and his foot found a place on the man's shoulder. Add kicked himself off of the man and flew over another. His Dynamos quickly reacted to his movements and they flew to where Add's feet would be. They lifted him up into the air, allowing him to float above any and all the goon's heads. Multiple goons began throwing their weapons at him to knock him down, but Add was able to move out of the way rather easily.

Knowing he was fine, he gazed to where Luana wound be. She was basically running in circles along the beams over head as the doctor continued to fire at her. He missed plenty of times, hitting the roof instead of the girl. Luana ran along the beams, hopping to and fro when she had to. She kept going around the doctor as if it was a game. Add now understood just what exactly she was doing and got himself onto even higher ground. Luana was luck that the doctor easily fell into her trap. What the doctor didn't even realize was that he was creating holes in the ceiling, and in a perfect circle at that. Luana jumped onto another beam, only for it to get shot and begin to break. She gasped as she felt herself begin to fall.

"HA!" Exclaimed the mad doctor. "You're mine now...!"

"Hey, Doc!" Add yelled at him with a smirk. "You might want to look up!"

"Huh…?" The doctor looked up, only to notice the trap far too late.

Luana kicked herself off of the beam and grabbed onto the very ledge of what was left of the wood. As she began hanging from it, she heard another type of shot get fired and heard loud wood creaking. Luana tried to climb herself back up to see if she could stand on the wood ledge she was hanging from just as the ceiling collapsed. But, just her luck, a metal piece from the ceiling latched onto her dress as it fell, yanking her down. Luana yelped in shock, realizing she was going down too. Just as she was about to prepare herself for the collision, she felt her body get yanked and the loud tearing sound of her dress.

Before she could realize what happened, the loud sound of the ceiling coming down caused her to cover her head and shut her eyes. Once she didn't hear anymore noise, she carefully opened her eyes and bring her arms down to realize she was in the arms of Add. He was the thing that saved her. She though he was looking at her at first, but he was instead gazing at the destruction below them created by the roof. He suddenly laughed, giving Luana the chills.

"Kukuku, they didn't see it coming at all!" He laughed. "That crazed doctor fell into that trap so easily, ahaha!"

"You... You found enjoyment in all that?" Luana spoke softly, horrified by his laughing.

"Of course I did," Add replied calmly. "There's no way that old man survived that. Plus, you basically broke over half of the floor. The basement is full of sharp machines anyways. If somehow that didn't kill him, the fall from the floor breaking would."

"Huuh…" Luana breathed out shakily, looking very disturbed, as she tried not to imagine it.

"Now, let's get out of here," Add said casually. "There's probably more of them secretly around. It's best that we leave. I'll be honest," they began floating upwards towards the hole in the roof, "I'm amazed that this place is still standing."

Luana had to at least agree on that. She gazed down as they went up, only see dust fly around thanks to the sunlight beating through, flying over the pitch black empty pit. There was barely anything left to call a floor, Luana will say that. Even as they went through the ceiling, Add didn't stop there. After that event with the ceiling, he doubt they could trust the building's roof. He only jumped off of his Dynamos, knowing they could only keep afloat for so long, and ran along the roof quickly before jumping back onto them. He flew them to the ground and hopped off of his Dynamos. Once on the ground, Luana got out of his arms and took a step away from him, her legs still shaking a bit from the event. Add looked back up at the building again before he began walking.

"Keep walking," he had said. "Who knows who could have heard all that noise."

Luana kept silent and stood there for a moment.

In the end, she followed him, fearing if somehow there was more scientist around. She became paranoid as she continuously kept looking over her shoulder, afraid to just turn her back on the place. Who knows what Dr. Lenchong might have done? Maybe there was hidden thugs, or even other hidden traps in the area. Remembering how clever the man is, she knew she couldn't keep her guard down. She shivered as she began remember the events of when she was a child. There was no way that she would be sleeping tonight.

Luckily the two quickly got to a busy part of the town, knowing they'd be safer around there. If there was one thing that she knew about Dr. Lenchong, it would be that fact that he hated to make a scene. Therefore, he wouldn't have many traps where there would be people. The two officially stopped when they settled down near one of the waterways that was under one of the bridges. Not many people were specifically there, but there was definitely a good amount of people around. Add had placed himself against the bridge wall while Luana was squatting down on the ground near the water. The fight against all those goons and dodging open fire was a very tiring experience for both of them.

"That didn't go quite as planned," Add mumbled to himself before chuckling. "To think that Doctor tried suckering me over by giving me fake Nasod parts. What a fool, kukuku…"

"How…" Luana looked up at him. "How did you meet him? When was your little deal made?"

"Huh?" Add snapped out of his thought and looked down at her. "I don't have to tell you anything."

 _ **CRACK!**_

Add's eyes shot wide open, his mouth slightly open, as he tried processing what happened so quickly. His eyes shifted to his left as he gazed at Luana's embedded knuckled beside his head in the wall. In a flash she stood up in front of him and punched the wall right next to his head. The wall was cracked quite a bit as a few small bits were all over her hand. Add looked backed at her eyes to see a fiery anger burning in them.

"I've listened to everything that you've said and I've done every single one of your damn orders," Luana growled at him. "Now it's your turn to listen and answer _my_ questions. How did you meet Dr. Richard Lenchong, and what exactly was your deal?"

Add stared at her as his face tightened. He looked like he was beginning to fume in anger, but Luana could care less. She was done playing nice with him. She wanted answers and she refused to leave him alone without them.

"...I stumbled upon him here in Elder," Add said. Luana was surprised he actually spoke, but kept her strong composure. "We talked and he gave me an offer. If I could find his missing lab rat, he would give me ancient Nasod parts that would be eroded from this era by now. Plus, this wasn't the first time I heard of the alleged 'Super Strength Girl.' Many people along the Black Market really want you for high prices. You're pretty infamous, kukuku…"

"Nasod? Black Market…?" Luana's body relaxed and she pulled her hand away from his head. "...Did anybody else come up to you about me?"

"Nope~" Add said and looked away from her in a bored manner. "He was the only person. He promised me the parts and a wealthy rewards."

"Then why did you shoot him?" Luana asked as her eyebrows furrowed together. "You don't seem like the type of person to just help out because it's the 'right thing to do'. Why did you betray him instead...?"

"You're not wrong," Add smirked as he gazed back at her. "I could tell as soon as he opened the case that the Nasod parts were fake. Plus…" Add sudden held a startling expression of anger. "I don't do well being someone else's tool."

Luana was surprised by his quick change in demeanor. She almost took a step back, but refrained from doing so. Her mind quickly went to a dark place as she gazed at her feet. His response was as cold and crude as ever.

"So you only saved me because you didn't get those parts you were promised, huh?" Luana mumbled softly.

"...I did say that once you paid me back for saving you from those bandits that I would get you to a local to get you home," Add reminded her. Luana paused and raised her head up to him. "I wasn't planning on giving you up to him in the first place." His smirk returned. " _Trust me_ , remember?"

Luana's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Just what exactly did he mean by that? She just thought he was saying that to foreshadow his betrayal to her. She didn't think he was legitimate. Pushing that aside, there was something that was still bothering her.

"Add," she spoke again, "just how exactly did you figure out that I would be abducted by bandits and captured? How'd you find me?"

"That's simple," Add said as his smirk returned. "I was there in the village when the fire started."

Luana's eyes widened at his statement. Her eyes narrowed at him as she took in that information. "You were in my village…? You saw the fire?"

"The only lead that anybody had was the little rumor going around that some girl was able to throw some guy over her head after he stole an item from a little old lady." Add said casually as he began walking back and forth, just like he did when they met. "It came from a traveler who only stopped at merchant villages, so of course I had to check out any and all places that held merchants. Your 'hidden' village was a big red arrow for those trying to hunt you down."

"Why's that…?" Luana asked with a raised brow.

"Think about it," Add said and held his hands out while grinning deviously. "You're an enhanced human being who was experimented on and escaped. Those people who want you would search in the most obvious places. But a small, hidden village practically in a bowl of mountains? It's a clever place to hide. Who wouldn't want to check it out for little escapees?"

"How did I even miss you in the crowds that day…?" Luana muttered to herself as she recalled the day.

"Who knows," Add shrugged as he walked by her again. "Maybe you weren't looking hard enough that day, kekeke."

" _Halmoni_ …" Luana mumbled sadly to herself as her shoulder drooped as she remembered her. "She must be panicking by now… Probably destroying the place herself for me, heh…"

"...Give me your hands again." Add ordered and stood in front of her. "Cuffs just love staying on you, don't they?"

Luana sighed for a moment before giving him her wrist. Using his Dynamos once again, he was able to get the cuffs off of her body. They both were a bit surprised that the bracelets had still stayed on. But, when it got to the cuff on her neck, there was a slight problem.

"How the hell did this thing even get on you?" Add grumbled as he looked at it. Luana held her head back, exposing her neck, as she tried not to choke on the cuff. "It's like he created this think to suffocate you."

"Think you can... hurry it up?" Luana asked as she was trying not to choke herself.

"Grr..." Add growled under his breath and began muttering. "What did he do to calculate the radius and width of this thing? A gerbil?..." He stood up straighter and tried looking at it from a different angle. "Now, let's see if there's a way to not burn your skin off..."

"You know what," Luana put her head down and stepped away from him. "I'll just do it."

She took a step back again and grabbed the cuff with both of her hands carefully. She began to pull against it and felt her hands slowly crush it as she felt it budging. But just as it budge, she could feel the metal begin to press more against her neck. Pausing, she readjusted her hands on the cuff and tried again. She had to do this fast, or she might just pass out from a lost of air. After a few moments she felt it break, snapping clean off of her neck. Luana took in a deep breath of air as she could talk and breath more easily now. She dropped both halves of the broken cuff and rubbed her neck in relief.

"That was actually hurting me…" She released a relieved sigh.

"Wait," Add grabbed both sides of her head and lifted her head back.

"H-hey!" Luana exclaimed in surprise as she didn't like him freely grabbing her. "Just what're you doing?!"

"No markings…" Add murmured.

"W-what?" Luana asked, unable to hear him.

"You have no markings on your body..." Add said and released her head. Luana stepped back and rubbed her neck uncomfortable.

" _Okaaay_ ," Luana shook her head at him as she looked bewildered. "Why does that matter to you?"

"Those cuffs were tightly secured on your body," Add said. "Those things just barely even fit you. Even if there isn't one on your neck, there should be some on your wrist and ankles because of the bracelets. Why aren't there any markings left from any of them?..."

"...Who knows." Luana gazed at her wrists and shrugged. She didn't want to tell him the truth. She gazed down, only to now notice the damage done to her dress. "A-are you kidding me...?!"

"What?" Add raised a brow at her sudden exclaim.

"My gown's utterly ruined," she groaned and tried to look the damage. "...Must've been through the entire fight and from the ceiling latching onto it... This sucks." Luana pulled the nightgown off, inspected it, then folded it up. "Looks like I won't being wearing this thing anymore..."

"If that's done and over with," Add said and began walking, "let's see that villager and go our separate ways."

"Wait..." Luana spoke up, causing Add to stop and gaze at her. "You're still taking me to that local...?"

"Uh, duh," Add made a face at her like it was obvious. "Now hurry it up," he began walking again, "the quicker we get to him, the quicker either of us can leave."

"...Add!" Luana called to him. He stopped again and looked at her over his shoulder, looking rather annoyed. "...Thank you for saving me. Again."

"... _What_?" Add turned to her, looking utterly bewildered. "You're _thanking_ me?"

"Mm-hm," Luana nodded her head.

" _Why_?" Add asked as he increasingly looked confused. "I basically kidnapped you after you got kidnapped, made you come to a place you had no idea about, and had made a deal with the man who wanted you as his lab rat to bring you to him. Why the hell are you thanking me? Did you hit your head against those boards in the storage house?"

"There's plenty of reasons why," Luana said, ignoring his last comment, and began listing her reason on her hand. "You stopped those bandits from actually taking me, allowed me to bathe when I could've taken the chance to escape, you listened when most people would've scoffed at me when I talked about the sensations, you brought me here as promised, and even though you came here to give me up for a deal you still helped me escape. Oh, and you also saved me from that falling ceiling. That's why I'm thanking you."

Add stared at her for a moment before grumbling something incoherent under his breath. He quickly turned his back to her again. "Yeah, well…" He grumbled before walking off. "Don't go bragging around about it. I didn't do it out of kindness, you know…"

"Maybe," Luana said and jogged to catch up with him. "But you still saved me. So thank you, Add."

"Once is enough! Just shut up already!" Add exclaimed.

Luana laughed lightly at his outburst, knowing it was out of embarrassment. She stayed behind him and allowed him to lead once again as they traveled through the village. ' _Yeah, he's bad…_ ' Luana thought as she stared at the back of Add's head. ' _But, he's got some good in him. He just needs someone to help him show it._ '

 _ **Growl, growl.**_

"...Was that you?"

"...Maybe."

"* _groan_ * ...Come on."

"But, what about that local guy?"

"Just shut up and follow me. You're not the only one starving."

' _Yeah,_ ' Luana laughed in her thoughts. ' _He's rude, crude, and needs some lessons in manners. But, he's still good._ '

.

.

.

.


	5. Chapter 5

"Add… _Add…_!"

"What? And don't touch me."

Add and Luana had taken a stroll into the busier part of the town to grab a quick bite. Luana suggested the applecart since it was close by, cheap compared to the prices in her village, and it was light. She didn't want to be a type of inconvenience and force Add into paying for so much. The white haired boy, after a bit of coaxing, agreed into buy two red apples. He paid and tossed Luana one. She caught it and began biting into it. She hummed in satisfaction at it's sweetness, while also hearing Add say that he was going to the local villager now, since he was sick of wasting as much time as they did. Luana followed him through the crowd, continuing to eat her apple. She bumped into a few people by accident, but was quick to apologize. Add was actually becoming annoyed by how many times the girl could say "Sorry!" and still bump into another person.

As they continued on, Add stopped and gazed at a shop that had familiar looking flowers on it. He was caught in the moment of the flowers, unaware of Luana's curious gazes that she repeatedly sent him. Seeing that he was unresponsive, she decided to drop it. She honestly didn't want to snap him out of his trance since she was still wary of him. Plus, she still didn't know him very well. She figured that she should just let him do whatever. But, she was still paranoid from their earlier encounters. Still feeling unsettled, she gazed behind her. Almost instantly she felt her stomach practically drop to the floor.

There was two men in dark clothes and animal mask. They were gazing around the place, sometimes pausing at a shop before turning and going to another. It was strange behavior. But, what made her stomach drop was the fact that she recognized the clothing and masks.

It was the men who burned her village.

She gazed away from them quickly as dread began to fill her stomach. Her anxiety began to grow as she gazed over her shoulder carefully to eye them again. Luana, now gazing away from them, began to call Add's name softly as she tugged on the sleeve of his coat. Hence him yanking his hand away and rudely asking what she wanted.

"The bandits that attacked my village," she whispered softly to him, "they're here…"

Add raised a brow at her, but looked over her shoulder anyways. She was right. About four carts down stood the familiar clothed bandits. Add clicked his tongue loudly before gazing away from them.

"Tsk… bastards…" He cursed under his breath. "Probably trying to search for you. Should've taken them all out when I had the chance…"

"What should we do?..." Luana asked softly, her tone sounding a bit fearful.

"Just act like you hadn't seen them," Add replied and turned to a nearby cart. "Let's move around a bit and see if they've spotted us and are actually after us."

Luana nodded her head and moved so her back was towards the bandits. She bit into her apple again, trying to chide herself to not look. Add gazed around the cart before moving, causing Luana to stay close behind him. After repeating this action for three more times, Add gazed over Luana's head to see that the bandits did advance when they did. They, too, were trying not to raise suspicion and keep their eyes away from them. Add turned his head and bowed a little and whispered into Luana's ear.

"They're definitely following…" Add said to her. "They're really being a pain in the ass about it."

"We have to stop them," Luana said softly, gazing at him. "I don't want a repeat to what happened to my village to happen here!"

"You really think they would burn this place down?" Add gave her an unimpressed look.

"They didn't hesitate to do it to mine. Why should this place be any different?" Luana asked a bit hotly, annoyed by the look on his face saying 'you're an idiot'. "They have numbers, unlike us. They probably have ties around the place, too… What should we do?"

"Hm…" Add glanced at the bandits to see that they moved to another cart. "Stay here for one moment. I'm going to move to another cart. I want to see if they'll go after you or me. Move as soon as they're one cart away from you."

Luana gulped a lump in her throat, but nodded to him.

Add casually turned and moved to another cart that was across the street, going two more carts up. Basically he stood diagonal from where Luana stood. He stayed in a more hidden part of the cart and kept his eyes on the bandits. They seemed to talk to each other and the taller one signaled for the other to move.

The shorter one took a casual stroll by, looking back and forth, up and down, as if he was examining where he wanted to go. Slowly, he moved to a cart that was right next to Luana. Add eyed the taller bandit for a quick second, seeing him slowly walk towards his companion. Luana moved to the cart right next to her. Add watched her, seeing the bandit move to the cart she was just at. They were definitely after her.

Luana then threw her apple away into a trash can, only to notice the bandit inched towards her. Not letting another moment pass by, she turned sharply and walked to where Add was, trying to now remain casual as she gazed up and down at the cart. Once she was next to him, she looked prepared to pass out. Add was surprised to see her in the same state that she was when she saw Dr. Lenchong. Was she seriously afraid of these weaklings?

"I saw the weapon he had on the side of his belt," Luana whispered to Add as she tried to look calm. "He had a stun baton and metal cuffs, Add. What're we going to do?"

"First, you need to calm down over these pathetic bandits," Add said calmly. "Second, it looks like I'm going to have to take you to that villager faster than I expected."

Luana turned her head, only to quickly turn her head and looked at the ground in a panic. She spoke in between her teeth, hissing at Add softly. "They're right next to us…!"

"Calm. The fuck. Down." Add ordered and roughly grabbed both of her shoulders.

Luana felt him move her to his other side where she was more away from the bandits. Add kept his head bowed so he could whisper to her. While he spoke, he kept his eyes on the two bandits.

"I want you to go ahead and follow this road," Add spoke carefully. "Go straight ahead, don't turn back, and keep walking. Only turn your head when you have to. Keep walking, don't stop walking, and don't apologize to anybody that you bump into. Stop when you see a gigantic statue of an old man and stand by it. I'll meet back with you there."

"But—"

"Ah-ah," Add cut her off as aggravation was in his tone. "No buts. Worry about yourself and only yourself. Now get moving!"

He pushed her towards the streets. Luana quickly caught herself as she stumbled and quickly covered herself. She acted like she stumbled over a pebble before walking in a casual pace. Still keeping hold of her white dress, she tightened her arms around it and pressed it right under her chest, trying to keep herself in check.

Add walked away from her and turned into an alleyway. He stood at the entrance, making sure he was hidden well, and watched as the two bandits quickly strided towards Luana. Add, taking this chance, stepped out of the alleyway and followed them instead. Add was vaguely becoming annoyed with this game. But, he knew that he had to make sure that Luana stayed out of their grasp. He couldn't let the precious lab rat get caught after all his hard work, after all.

Luana had to physically force herself not to gaze behind her. She couldn't allow those bandits to capture her again after everything that's happened so far. But, as they say, old habits die hard. She peeked a glance, only to see them literally gaining up on her. She looked forwards, her head towards the ground, as she tried hard to remain calm.

' _Calm down, calm down, calm down,_ ' she chanted in her thoughts. ' _You can't let yourself get caught by them again. Add specifically told you what to do, Luana. Keep calm, keep calm, keeeeep calm._ '

But, the paranoia got to her. She gazed over her shoulder again, seeing the bandits becoming closer and closer with each step. They were practically speed walking right towards her. Luana picked up her own pace, taking long strides, as she kept her head down. She strained her ears to see if she could hear them, and she _definitely_ could. Luana was becoming fearful again. She didn't want to be caught by those bastards.

She had also recognized where that stun baton came from. It was from the laboratories she loathed so much. They were definitely connected the two. She couldn't take it any more. She had to see where they were. Looking over her shoulder sharply, she halted in surprise.

They were gone.

Confusion took over her features and she gazed left and right. They had simply disappeared. Her rapid heartbeat slowed down, making her feel slightly relieved, but she was still wary. Hesitantly, she faced forwards again, and briskly walked forwards and continued on towards the statue.

Even from afar Add could clearly see her begin to panic. It was clear from how tense her body looked. But, more importantly, the bandits were catching up to her. So, Add stalked after them rather quickly from behind. Once he was close to the two he grabbed both unsuspecting men and yanked them into the alleyway.

With a grunt he was able to throw them against the wall, making sure they were out of sight of the other villagers. Add's Dynamos detached themselves from his belt and flew around him, ready to be used if necessary. The bandits snapped out of their shock and glared up at him.

"You bastard—"

Add shot at the taller one, knocking him out. "...You piss me off."

The other bandit, clearly losing his tough act, tried to scoot away but was trapped against the wall. Add smirked at his pathetic figure before him as his Dynamos began glowing.

"Tell me," Add spoke to the bandit, "are you still after that girl?"

The bandit nodded, his body shaking like a leaf.

"Now, why's that?" Add asked.

"O-our boss t-told us a g-guy would pay us t-thousands, millions even for her!" Exclaimed the bandit. "I-I-I don't know the details! Honest! H-he just told us to capture the girl at all cost!"

"So why are there only two of you stalking us?" Add asked as his pink eyes narrowed.

"W-we were just the bait," admitted the man. "T-the plan was to get her to the center of town and ambush her. I-if we s-saw you with her, w-we were suppose to signal the others…"

"'Others'...?" Add growled. "How many of you are here, exactly?"

"H-hundred, I g-guess…?" Shrugged the bandit.

"...What was your plan once you did capture the girl?" Add asked.

"T-take her to the underground w-waterway," explained the bandit. "Through there we were planning to head to Bethma and sell her there."

"And the buyer is…?" Add made his Dynamos get closer to the bandit's face.

"I-I-I-I don't know! Honest to god!" Quickly exclaimed the man in fear. "O-only our boss knows! I-I think it w-was some doctor, or something. I-I swear, that's all I know!"

"Another one?" Add growled in annoyance. "I knew she was popular but geez…" Rolling his eyes, he pulled his Dynamos back. "So tell me, where's your boss now?"

"R-right in the center of town," confessed the bandit. "Right in the area of that gigantic statue. Y-you can't miss it!"

Add's eyes widened at the information. Without hesitation, he zapped the man until he was unconscious, ignoring his loud screams. Quickly, Add rushed out of the alleyway and began making his way toward the statue, ignoring the commotion he had created from behind him.

"Damn it all…!" He hissed under his breath. "She's running right into their damn trap! And it's my fault, no less! This girl is more trouble than she's worth, I swear..."

Back with Luana, who was completely unaware of what was going on, continued her way to that statue. She had gotten so paranoid that she found herself basically jogging towards it, only slowing herself down to gaze behind her. Thankfully, she hasn't spotted any sort of bandits yet. Hopefully, she wasn't being followed anymore. But that still didn't stop her from heading towards the statue like she was told.

To be honest, she had no idea why she had so much faith and trust in Add. Was it because of how he kept saving her so many times? Or was it just her being naive, hoping to see the good in others hearts? To be frank, she didn't have a single clue.

Gazing at the scenery in front of her, she felt relieved to see that statue. It was that of a giant old man. And, from how large it was, he must be a pretty big deal. Luana rushed towards the center, being careful as she passed people and weaved through small crowds. She slowed down when she made it to the center, gazing right up at the face of the stone man.

Luana walked towards it and continued to gaze up at it's face. Looking down, she saw a type of description on a metal plate at the very foot of the statue. But, it was incoherent, as it had been spray painted upon. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the vandalism.

' _Who would do this?_ ' She wondered and gazed and the face again. ' _...Are the town's people not happy with this man? If so, just what exactly did he do to make them so angry? Well, whoever he is, I hope he at least paid for any sins that he's committed.._.'

Releasing a soft sight, Luana turned and sat on the footstool of the statue, making sure not to be against the spray paint. She gazed out before her, seeing a few people walk by. Many people seemed so busy and rather at peace. It actually made Luana pleased to see people so happy. But, her dark thoughts couldn't help but come back and ruin her mood. She scoffed lightly, smiling dryly as she gazed at her lap.

' _Wow… Look at how pathetic I am…_ ' she thought. ' _I ran away from two people that I could've easily taken down without a thought. I'm also wasting even more of Add's time from all this… Geez. It's almost humorous of how I reacted_.'

Luana laughed dryly and shook her head. ' _Heh… wow. It's only been a day or two since I've been away from my village and I can't seem to stay stable for one second. It's pathetic when I compare it to my child self…_ '

As Luana was distracted by her thoughts, she was unaware of the man creeping out from behind the statue. He slowly made sure she couldn't hear him as he crept up behind her. He raised his metal pipe into the air as his shadow casted over her. Luana, seeing the shadow, whirled her head around, only to gape in horror.

"I said move!" Add hissed as he pushed a man aside.

He was running across the ground, shoving pass people in order to get to Luana. There was no doubt that she was running right into a trap. Whether that bandit had been right or not, there was no doubt that they might strike when Luana held her guard down.

It annoyed him to realize that this was all his fault if she got captured again. He told her to go to the statue. The same damn statue that the supposed leader of the bandits were at. Add was really hoping that she didn't listen to him and went in a different direction instead. Maybe then she would be alright from those bandits. But the white haired boy didn't have time to worry about that. Right now, he just had to focus on getting to Luana.

But, just as he got near the center, a bunch of people were running in the opposite direction than him. They shouted something, but Add wasn't able to hear what it was. When he got to the center, he could only halt in shock at what he was seeing.

He saw a figure flying through the air.

"The hell…?" Add muttered.

His eyes widen as he realized the figure was flying towards him. Add stepped back and watched the figure crash right into a nearby fruit cart. He actually flinched and at the destruction of fruit and wood. Add walked towards the cart and gazed down at the very injured man. It was one of the bandits, and Add was surprised to see his mask split open and chipped while his clothes were ruined.

"...D-don't… go… n-near the *cough* statue…" Warned the man in a raspy voice. "T-that bitch is c-crazy…"

"Huh?" Add turned towards the statue.

Add began running towards the statue, wondering what the hell was going on. When he got closer to it, he slowed down into a walk as he saw what was happening before him. He slowed down so much that he ended up stopping and actually pinched himself to make sure he was in reality.

The area was actually filled with many bandits as they were all facing and surrounding one person. That raging person being Luana. Luana was moving fast, punching and kicking men down with one hit. It was like she was springing from one place to another, taking out any and all near by enemies that surrounded her. Add only caught a glimpse at her face and he could tell by just that glance that she was _pissed_. If the expression on her face wasn't clear enough, then her shouts and grunts probably were.

The white haired boy could only watch in stunned silence, watching her go at it like an animal. Luana, who didn't even notice Add around, was beyond angry. These were the men who attacker her villager and stole their values. Hell, they probably killed a few of the villagers with that fire! They were going to pay!

As if the remembrance of her village caused her to go even more heated at it, Luana decided to grab a physical weapon of her own. That weapon being the town's post board. She grabbed it and practically torn it off of the ground, lifting it high in the air. The bandits stared at her in horror, sweating nervously at her terrifying abilities. Luana stared down at them in pure anger.

"Don't. Mess. WITH ME!" She shouted and swung the board.

The shouts of men practically filled the air as a wave of them flew.

Add was actually becoming nervous, not like he'd admit it, as he watched this go on. The post board didn't last very long and eventually broke against Luana's inhuman strength. That's when Luana went back to using her fist and feet to attack the rest of them. Add stood there as if his feet was glued to the ground, and felt the bandits rush by him in fear. Luana grabbed one last guy and practically flew him into the air. Add watched, having to turn around to see that the man landed somewhere in the village as he could hear the crash.

Add looked back at Luana as a sweat drop appeared on his head as his skin went pale. He could only stare at her with eyes as wide as a fly's as he was clearly shocked by what happened. Did she really cause _all_ of this?

Only now that the bandits were gone that Add could see the true destruction of the area. The Wally Statue was utterly wrecked as it was now just in bits, pieces and boulders. The post board was utterly destroyed as pieces of wood was everywhere. The ground looked heavily cracked as if something had slammed against it. The plants that had been in the area were either trampled or tossed somewhere on the ground. Standing in the middle of it all, was none other than Luana.

She was hunched over, huffing and puffing, as each breathe was released came out as a growl. Her brown hair looked ruffled up like a dog's fur when it's growling at danger. Her back was facing Add, so she hadn't spotted him yet. Add could only compare her to a wild animal.

With quick movement, Luana whirled around in his direction. Add stiffened, becoming nervous in hopes she wouldn't come after him. Luana's facial expression and body language almost instantly changed at the sight of him. She suddenly calmed down, took in and out a deep breath, before straightening up.

"...What, took you so long…?" Luana spoke up in an embarrassed manner.

"...After all that had happen," Add spoke, his voice soft, as he was still shocked from it all, "all you have to say is 'what took so long'?..."

"..." Luana looked away from him before smiling in an awkward yet guilty manner. "Nice weather we're having…?"

"...What happened?!" Add bellowed, his emotions now getting to him. "You destroyed the place!"

"Don't give me that," Luana grumbled before walking over to the side. "Look. When I got to this place I thought it was safe. I took a seat on that stupid statue thinking everything was just fine." She bent down to grab something. "Well, I was wrong! The leader of those damn bandits was literally camping out behind the statue!" She stood up again, now holding a white cloth, and turned to Add. "He tried smacking me again with a metal pipe from behind. I was able to dodge it and I became suddenly surrounded by bandits. After getting taunted for a bit…" She puffed her cheeks out in embarrassment and began muttering. "...I flipped out and attacked them."

"What the hell did he say to make you do _this_?!" Add frantically gestured to the destruction all around them.

"Hey, that bastard destroyed my village and killed a good number of my people!" Luana said as she was still fuming from the event before. "For all we know, I don't even have a village to go back to. There was so many people there that I cared about. For all I know, they could be dead, Add, _dead_! That bastard had what was coming to him…"

"I get that but…" Add gestured to the damage again. "You _do_ realize that the villagers here are going to come after you with all types of weapons, right?"

"Yeah, well…" Luana sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair. "I was leaving anyways…"

"No, you idiot, you don't understand what you've done." Add exclaimed at her in anger. "I can't get that villager to help us now since you basically broke his town! He's not going to help you get back to your village now since you fucking destroyed his!"

"...It wouldn't be the first time that I've done it." Luana replied coldly.

Add was surprised by her response. She didn't sound at all like her usual self. She sounded cold and heartless. That didn't make any sense to him. He was supposed to be the cold, heartless one while she flipped out on him. He never agreed to this job switch!

Just as he was about to speak again, Luana began walking towards him. Add stiffened and watched her walk on by him, holding that white night gown of hers tightly in her hands. Add turned and watched her in confusion.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" He exclaimed at her.

"Home." Luana stated without stopping. "There was a map on the board. I can figure my way back…"

"...Those scientist are still after you!" Add yelled at her. "You're still being hunted down! Do you really think that you can just go back home and act like nothing happened?!"

"It's worth a shot!" Luana stopped and yelled back at him with tears pricking her eyes. "Don't you think I know that already! I know damn well just what's going to happen if I go back! Even if I don't stay there, or even if I'm not welcomed back, I have to make sure they're okay! I have to… make sure they're alive…"

Luana tilted her head so that her bangs covered her eyes well. Add's eye twitched in annoyance as he saw tears flowing down her face. He was never one to work well with emotions, especially someone else's. Before he could say something, Luana turned and began marching away.

"Now if you'll excuse me…" Shakily said Luana, "I'm heading back to my village…"

Add stood there in shock. He stayed in the middle of the destruction she made and watched her storm off. It took him a moment to realize that she was actually gone. His eye began twitching again as he started gritting his teeth.

"That brat!" Add exclaimed to himself. "After all that's happened, she just had to have a damn temper tantrum and break everything!" He kicked a part of a broken pot, hearing that satisfying smash. "She just _had_ to demonstrate her abilities in front of me…! She just had to break everything around!"

Add whirled around and suddenly paused as his fuming went away. He suddenly began laughing rather loudly. He spun in the direction she disappeared in with a psychotic expression upon his face.

"Kahahahaa!" Add laughed. "She's fucking amazing! She broke this entire section of the town in the matter of minutes, haha! If she can do that, then what can she do at full strength and anger?"

Add laughed to himself as his mind began swirling with scenarios. He could see them all now. The wicked grin on his face grew as he stared at the destroyed face of statue Wally.

"She's anything but Nasod, but she's the most interesting thing at the moment!" Add exclaimed to himself. "Imagine what one could do with her abilities. They could be the conqueror of this entire planet, haha! If only I had begin a scan on her at the time… Heh…!"

Add spun around and began walking in the direction Luana had gone in. He continued to giggle to himself as he walked.

"We're not done yet, lab rat," Add declared. "You and I have a lot more time together than I thought we'd have. Once I figure out your secrets, I can go back to following the Nasod Queen. Maybe even use you to gain her, kukukuku! You're mine, _727_."

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	6. Chapter 6

Luana woke up to the sound of birds that morning.

Lifting her head up and groggily rubbing her eyes, she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin. Gazing up at the sun from the spot she had slept in, she had to guess that it was maybe 9 to 9:30 am. She looked around her, seeing that she was still in the woods that she slept in. That was a relief.

She pushed herself up onto her feet and stretched her arms and legs out. Luana had walked for two days straight before collapsing in exhaustion. She wanted to get as much distance as she could from Elder, fearing that the villagers wouldn't take so kindly to her destroying an entire section of their town, a storage house, and possibly a bridge. Luana never ever wants to hear about the town of Elder ever again. She believes that it will be her first and very last time in that village.

Taking in a very big deep breath, she sighed out in contentment after stretching. Luana lifted her hand to the sky and looked to her shadow to recheck the time. At the same time, she could feel the wind go by. After a few moments she figured out where her directions were and southeast, strongly believing that there will be her village.

' _If it's still up on it's feet…_ ' She grimly thought.

Luana began traveling by foot. She hadn't seen nor heard of Add ever since Elder. She felt bad for yelling and becoming emotional, but when she thought back to all the stuff he's done, she doesn't feel so bad afterwards. Even through their short amount of time together, Add had done quite a lot of bad things towards her. Yes, she knew that the intention was mostly good, but there was just a few things that she couldn't let go.

"He threatened me to follow him after knocking out—and possibly killing—the bandits with those weapons of his," Luana began listing off the things he did. "He's rude, mostly. He always has to say things in the most insulting way possible. It's like he has a grudge against me or something…" She puffed her cheeks out as she said that. "He also talks about hygiene a bit too much. 'Filthy this, filthy that'—like, what? It's not like I can stay clean with a flick of my wrist. Plus, dirt is good for the immune system. Speaking of immune system, he looks anything but healthy…"

Luana paused for a moment, but kept walking as she thought about Add.

' _Now that I think about_ ,' she thought, ' _Add never really looked… the sanest person alive… I guess he is pretty ill, both mentally and probably physically…_ '

Luana then shook her head frantically, as if to chase away the thoughts. She lightly slapped her cheeks and looked at the ground as she scolded herself.

"Stop that!" She said. "Stop thinking about him. He was sick of my presence anyways. Not like I was really wanted… I need to focus on my village and my village alone."

Nodding to herself, Luana continued marching forwards. In total, it took her three more days until she spotted the familiar rocky dome of her town. Luana found a very small path through the mountains and followed that through. Even though it was in the middle of the night, the sight of the familiar mountains gave her a new wind of energy. When she got to the highest point of the path, she could see a perfect view of her village.

Her village was completely alright. There was still a lot of evidence of the place being burnt down, but many of the buildings were still there, or they were being renewed and recreated. It relieved Luana so much to know that at least there was still 3/4ths of her village left. She feared that there would be nothing at all.

Even though she was so happy to see the villagers and the town alright, she couldn't run down there. She had to head home first, freshen up, _then_ she could run down there like a loony. With a grin on her face, Luana booked it towards her house, which looked completely untouched by the fire. When she got to the door she grabbed the handle and pushed against it, only for her shoulder to slam into it.

Confused, she stepped back and tried again. The door wouldn't budge. It was locked. Luana hardly ever locks her doors, especially the front door. This was very strange. Stepping back, she knew she had to find a new way in. So, she went to her bedroom balcony. She rubbed her hands together and carefully grabbed the jutted out bricks on the wall carefully, knowing that if she wasn't careful she could break the actual house.

' _Thank god for stones_ ,' Luana thought before climbing.

It took a while, but she made it to her balcony. Once she was on the railing she sighed in relief, glad that it was a safe trip up. She gazed at her room as a nostalgic feeling came over her.

' _Home…_ ' She thought as she felt like crying.

Luana hopped off of the railing and made her way to her room. But, a sudden blur of yellow came at her in a fast motion. She stumbled back, bewildered by what on earth it was, and somehow dodged the in coming weapon. A familiar person was holding a broom and began swinging wildly with their eyes closed.

" _Halmoni_! _Hal_ — _Halmoni!_ " Luana grabbed her hands and restricted her wild movements. "Please, calm down! It's me. Luana!"

"Lu… Luana…?" Slowly, Eleousa opened her eyes. When she saw it was her she dropped her weapon and grinned in relief. "Oh, _Sonnyeo_!"

They didn't hesitate to embrace each other tightly. Luana smiled widely, being very much relieved that Eleousa was alright. Eleousa pulled away and cupped her cheeks with her hands, as if to make sure it was really her.

"It _is_ you…" Shakily said Eleousa.

"Of course it's me," Luana giggled and removed her hands from her face, still holding onto her hands. "Those wretched bandits kidnapped me while the town was burning. But, I'm so glad and relieved to see that the town is okay. How is everyone? Jacob and his family didn't get harmed, did them?"

"Jacob and his family are fine," Eleousa said but seemed distracted as she kept looking over Luana's shoulder. "No one spotted you, did they? Or follow?"

"What? N-no," Luana shook her head and glanced behind herself for a moment. "I came straight here. I was actually planning on taking a shower and such before heading to the village. Is… everything okay, _Halmoni_?"

Eleousa held a grim expression. She wrapped her arm around Luana's back and ushered her into her room. Luana obeyed and stepped inside, only to watch Eleousa close the balcony doors and yank the curtains in front of them.

"What's wrong?" Luana asked again. "I've never seen you so panicky before…"

"...We don't have much time," sighed Eleousa as she quickly walked towards Luana's wardrobe. "You shouldn't be here, Luana. Collect as much of your belongings as you can and go. Do not wait for morning."

"What? Why?" Luana stopped Eleousa and looked at her with begging eyes. " _Please_ , tell me what is wrong."

"...They've found us," Eleousa said in a hushed tone. "The Scientist who experimented on you all those years ago. They know you've been residing here and have been looking through the village for answers of your whereabouts. I've been staying here, making sure that they do not enter. But, I fear we don't have much time to talk."

"T-they're here?!" Luana exclaimed in a quiet tone as her face paled. "How did they…" She paused in realization. "The bandits… The buyer of the bandits is the laboratory…"

"I know," growled Eleousa as she grabbed a bag from the wardrobe. "They burned down our town just to find you. Even though you were grabbed by the bandits, the scientist came, saying that a plague was going around. Pah! I know liars when I see them, and all those bastard aren't foolin' nobody!"

"Then why can't you all drive them out?" Luana asked. "It's not like it's the first time…!"

"Ever since that fire, almost the entire town is in fear, Luana," Eleousa said and roughly placed the large bag on Luana's bed. "Not only that, but we lost a lot of our protection. We lost many things in that fire…" Eleousa placed a hand on her cheek and smiled. "I'm glad you weren't one of them…"

"As am I, but," Luana removed her hand and held it in hers, " _please_. L-let me help the village. I-I can have the scientist chase me, and—"

" _Luana_ ," Eleousa interrupted her. She slipped her hand out of hers so she was holding Luana's instead. "Listen to your _Halmoni_ , just for one last time, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Luana felt her throat tightening as she could feel her lips begin to quiver. Luana pressured her lips hard together to stop them and tried to swallow the feeling down. Afraid her voice would betray her, she nodded for Eleousa to continue talking.

"Pack this backpack behind me," Eleousa instructed. "Put clothes in that you'll need, and only one or two of your dresses. I will go down stairs and supply you with all of the food and water you need that could last you until the next village or two. Put your compass in as well. Once you do that, I want you to walk away from this place. Do not look back. Don't even turn around. You will have to go back to your old ways from now on to survive. And please, do survive. I know you can do it. The town and I _know_ that you can do it…"

Luana released a small, soft cry and forced her head down to conceal her face. Eleousa pulled her close, having one last tight embrace. Luana let go, quickly rubbing her eyes, and nodded to Eleousa.

"O-okay…" She mumbled. "B-But where do I go…?"

"Anywhere but here," Eleousa said stern, yet soft, manner. "It is too dangerous for you here. Too risky. For now, travel to a place that those lab bastards won't find you. Keep traveling. Never stay in one place for too long. They have eyes and ears in many places. I know it will be scary for you, but you're not the little child you once were. I have faith in you, Luana. Never forget that."

Luana nodded curtly. She gave her another firm hug. Eleousa returned the hug, but quickly spun her around and pushed her towards her wardrobe.

"Quickly, start packing!" Eleousa ordered.

"A-alright…" Luana nodded and began going through her clothes quickly.

Elousa, seeing Luana occupied, quickly exited the room to go prepare the other half of her things. Luana began frantically going through her wardrobe, trying to find clothes she may need. But, when her eyes landed on some of her prepared clothes, she quickly stopped and put them on instead.

There was no time to take a bath and freshen up. Luana could always do that in a shallow stream or in some inn at the next town. Once she tied the last string up, Luana took a quick peek in the mirror.

She had put on some black, transparent stockings and placed her brown bodysuit over it. She grabbed matching brown gloves that she created years ago to withstand her fighting ability. Over her stockings were black shoes that had multiple grey straps on it. Her boots went up her leg until it was just below her knees. On her waist was now a black corset with white strings laced in the front. Luana had created that, too, for when she needed the secure feeling of a restraint if she ever needed the feeling.

Luana clapped her hands together, feeling prepared for a possible fight she will face in the future. Reminding herself about clothing, Luana turned and resumed packing. She placed two dresses in, only to see that it was half way packed. Not a shocker, in all honesty. She figured it would turn up like that. With a soft sigh, Luana went to her drawers and began searching for other needed items.

Eventually she found an old picture and a compass that Jacob had given her on her twelfth birthday. But before she could close it up she spotted a familiar hair band she used for special occasions. Grabbing it, she tried her hair a the very end so they matched the hairs in front of her ears. It was a hairstyle she always had, but had utterly forgotten about it because of all the events from today. Grabbing the items again, she smiled softly at the small picture before folding it carefully and placing it inside of the compass. She put the compass in the side pocket of the bag so she could access it easier.

Just when she was about to zip it up, Eleousa came into the room with a basket and multiple containers of water. Eleousa took Luana's bag from her and began packing it all in a rushed manner. Luana, sensing her anxiety, felt her own begin to react to it. She peeked through the curtains carefully before closing them again after she saw nothing. She turned to Eleousa as was very reluctant about this.

"...I've packed enough food that'll get you by," Eleousa said and flipped the top over and began buckling it all up. "Did you collect what I asked you to?"

"Yes," Luana said with a curt nod.

The older woman turned to Luana. She smiled sadly at her as she looked prepared to cry as well. She opened her arms to her and Luana rushed in, giving her another firm hug. Luana tried so hard not to cry, trying to ignore the painful squeezing in her head and the tightness in her chest and throat.

"I wish you the best, _sonnyeo_ ," Eleousa whispered into her ear lovingly. "You will always have a home here."

"...I-I love you so much, Eleousa," Luana shakily said. "I couldn't have asked for a better _Halmoni_. I'll come running back as soon as those scientist are gone, and we can live peacefully again…"

"I do hope so," Eleousa laughed lightly. "I couldn't have asked for a better _Sonnyeo_. You will always be my baby girl, no matter what."

Luana laughed painfully, her lips quivering as she smiled. Eleousa gave her a big kiss on the cheek before separating from her, looking at her up and down one last time. She held strong, smiling at Luana in a proud manner.

"...I feel like I'm just now realizing how much you've grown," chuckled the older woman. "It feels like you were eight just yesterday. Look at you, all grown and mature. I wish I could have more time to see you grow, but, fate will not have it…"

"I _will_ come back," Luana declared. "I will come back, baring you riches that you so gratefully deserved. I'll travel all over and I will stop the tyranny of those devil scientist. Once I've stopped them, I'll come back to you. I'll come home, and you can teach me all sorts of new things, just like we always do."

"You better not be twenty minutes late like always, young missy!" Eleousa teased.

Luana laughed, trying hard not to let tears fall. Eleousa cupped her cheeks again and kissed her forehead, just like she used to when she was younger. Luana smiled at the memory and kissed Eleousa's cheek in return, feeling her love for her deep in her chest.

"Sadly, it is time for both of us to part," Eleousa said and lifted Luana's bag to her. "Take this and keep it with you. It will help you in your travels."

"I will," Luana took the bag and pulled it on. "Please tell Jacob and his family that I will love and miss them very much…"

"I can assure you that the feelings are mutual," again chuckled Eleousa. She smiled sadly again, her eyes filled with loving warmth. "I love you, Luana. You are strong. You've always have been."

"I love you too, Eleousa," Luana said as she slowly backed towards her balcony doors. "You've always been stronger, though. And I am grateful for that…"

Eleousa, still smiling, watched Luana open the doors to the moonlight night. Luana climbed over the railings again and jumped down without hesitation. Eleousa released a shaky sigh before anxiously closing the doors. She covered her mouth, now allowing her tears to pour out of her eyes.

Luana had successfully landed on the ground without getting hurt. She checked her surroundings, not seeing another soul in sight. She turned and began running back towards the mountain path, making sure to be stealthy about it. When she got to the highest point again, she gazed back at her village in sadness. She wished she could go through one last time, but she knew that she couldn't.

Taking in a big, shaky breath of air, Luana turned her back to her village and ran through the night. She didn't know how long away she'll be. She didn't even know if anything will ever be the same again. But, she knows that she will come back to that village to see Eleousa again, even if it's to be the last thing she'll do.

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	7. Chapter 7

Luana sighed for probably the thousandth time that day.

She hasn't stopped walking for quite a while after visiting her home village, and she didn't stop when she hit the next town. She couldn't stop. Her anxiety was getting to her, forcing her to continue on. She couldn't just stop, knowing that the scientist that were after her could be anywhere. She just prayed that Eleousa and everyone was safe.

Eventually, Luana couldn't take it anymore. She had to stop and rest. Dropping her bag, she sat down right at the trunk of a tree, making sure to be in it's shade. She took in a deep breath before slowly releasing it, feeling herself begin to calm down. She gazed up at the trees around her as she thought back to when she was a child. It was funny, really. She couldn't really remember how she was able to manage all that walking as a kid. It was funny for her to think of how long time had passed since then.

Luana smiled softly at the memories. She closed her eyes and allowed her ears to listen to the surrounding nature. But, that's when she heard flowing water. Her eyes opened and she listened carefully. A nearby stream of water means that she could finally take a much needed bath.

Pushing herself up, Luana grabbed her bag and began searching for the flow of water. It took her a few moments, but she finally found it. She immediately walked over to it, dropping her bag on the bank, and sat down on her knees. Cautiously, she dipped her hand in slowly until she could feel the bottom, which soaked her arm all the way up to her shoulder. She pulled her arm out, shaking her hand while smiling.

' _Perfect,_ ' she happily thought.

Just as she unbuttoned the collar of her bodysuit, she suddenly felt something slam into her back. Luana gasped at the sudden sensation, finding herself in the air for a brief moment before becoming submerged into water.

Luana freaked out and stood up, gasping for air as soon as she was on her feet again. Thank the goddesses that it was only a shallow stream. Her hand traveled to her back in confusion as she felt a burning sensation there. It was like she was zapped with some sort of electricity. Turning in the direction she was attacked from, she was shocked to see who was standing before her.

It was Add.

There is no way in hell that she could misinterpret his albino-like looks. It was Add, standing across from her, with his usual insane looking expression. Luana was utterly confused as to why he was standing there before her. Coughing a bit, she tried to speak up.

"Add?" She questioned as her throat hurt while gasping for air still. "Why're you…"

Her question fell short as she saw his weapons face her, causing her expression to fall. She paled at the sight as her eyes were locked onto each of his six weapons. Add could only laugh at her fearful expression.

"Kukuku, you're pretty tough to follow, you know," Add told her. "Do you know how annoying it is to keep following you through days of walking? I'm amazed you haven't passed out from exhaustion."

"You… You were following me?" Muttered Luana in shock. "S-so that… shot was from you, wasn't it…?"

"Finally catching on, I see," Add mocked while his smirk grew. "I'm just disappointed it took you this long to figure it out. You maybe observant, but you're not quite as sharp as everyone makes you out to be."

Luana fumed silently as her face contorted into anger. "What the hell do you want from me? You know I have nothing to give."

"That's where you're wrong," Add said. Luana's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and she listened to him talk. "You're inhuman strength and ability to go farther than any human is astounding. Don't you find it interesting? You brought down a quarter of the town of Elder in a matter of minutes. Imagine what someone could do with that ability to an entire continent! Kahahaha!"

"Where are you getting at?" Luana asked as she slowly began to fear his answer.

"I want that power," Add said in a soft and calm voice. "I want your powers. Those scientist experimented on you with serums and drugs, correct? If I can figure out exactly what they did to you, I could easily gain power like no other!"

"Do you even realize what you're even asking for?!" Luana shouted at him as she quickly became furious. "The last thing you want is for those damn scientist to get their hands on you! Their experiments are deadly and extreme. They will do anything to get results, whether it means tossing lives away or gaining a new experiment! That serum is that _last_ thing you want on this planet!"

"Do enlighten me," Add said as a new type of craze was apparent in his eyes. "What makes this serum so special? What makes _you_ so special? Because I'm not hearing anything too bad from your mouth."

"Are you stupid?!" Luana yelled out, climbing out of the water, and continued to glare at him. "You'll die the moment that serum is injected into you! Even if somehow you managed to survive, _IF_ , you won't be able to control your body properly. You'll go on rampages, unable to stop yourself from harming anything and everything in sight. The more experiments they test on you, the more you'll be begging for sweet death to come and release you of that misery. Oh! But they're not even done just yet!"

Luana began frantically using her hands to talk as she was utterly fuming. "They'll even experiment on your corpse if it gives them answers! But with the serum in your body, hey refuse to let you die. They have ways of bringing you back, even if it means killing an entire village! If it means that they get to keep their little experiment, they'll do anything to do it! The whole reason why they're after me is because they can't recreate the damn experiment! You wouldn't last an hour in their hands."

"So… You're saying you're the perfect subject?" Add muttered, trying so hard to not to lash at her insults.

" _No_ ," Luana growled, "I'm saying that you're a _fucking idiot_ to even want that serum in the _first place_!"

"Idiot you say…" Add growled as his eye began twitching again. He suddenly shouted out as his weapons sparked. "I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU PISSANT!"

"Gaah!" Luana shouted out as she got shot at by his Dynamos.

Add fired electricity at her again as he shouted in anger. Luana felt it collide into her, knocking her right off of her feet. She felt herself flew and felt her back slam into the ground. Sensing his murderous intent, she tried getting up as fast as she could, seeing that he had blasted her right over the stream and onto the other bank. She also notice that Add began marching over to where she was, his eyes flaring in fury.

"If I'm considered an idiot," Add hissed with venom, "then you're no smarter than a fucking worm!"

' _He's strong…_ ' Luana realized as she got to her feet finally. ' _Strong and pissed off. I have to be careful now, or he could seriously do some damage…_ '

"I still don't get it…" Luana muttered before yelling at him again. "Just what do you want with me?! I can't give you the serum! I can't give you my abilities! Just what do you want from em!?"

"Data." Add stated simply as he used his dynamos to cross the stream lazily. "You're a lab rat, aren't you? Well, lab rats are supposed to give data. Therefore…" He held his hand out as his Dynamos began sparking again. "I want all the data you can give to me, kehehehe...!"

Luana's face paled even more at what he said. She stepped back as she slowly began to fear for her life. He was acting too much like those scientist that it was really starting to scare her.

"Y-you're psychotic…" Luana muttered as she backed away.

"Thank you," Add said grinning. "Now, be a good experiment, and listen to what I have to say…"

"Grrr…" Luana growled and glared hard at him. "I rather _die_ than be another lab rat!"

"Suit yourself…" Add chuckled darkly at her.

He shot at her again, but Luana was able to evade it by rolling to the ground. Continuing the momentum, she got to her feet and jumped across the stream. Add, seeing her try to escape, began firing at her rapidly. Luana snatched her bag up and began running, narrowly avoiding his electric shocks. She quickly booked it into the woods while Add gave chase.

Luana was not enjoying this game of cat and mouse. Add was chasing after her, shooting at her whenever he could, and laughing no doubt. Luana kept taking risky maneuvers to dodge his attacks and try to throw him off, but Add was one step ahead of her.

Luana, weaving through the trees as much as she could, spotted a knocked over tree. Seeing it, she quickly went to it and began running up it. She was quick to run up and it and jumped to the next tree, now jumping from branch to branch. Add, seeing this in action, chuckled at her foolishness of going up. He followed right after her with his own dynamos and continued his hunt.

But, much to his frustration, Luana kept continuously dodging. It didn't help that she was jumping from tree to tree like a frog, either. His Dynamos could only handle holding so much weight at once, so he was on a bit of a time limit with this girl.

Luana kept looking for a way of escape. It was becoming harder and harder to dodge Add's accurate aim, which was becoming hard for her to manage. She quickly thought of something, but knew she would have to do it fast. Jumping one last time, she crouched down on the branch before jumping backwards off of it. Add could only gape as he watched her in action. Instead of jumping forwards, Luana jumped backwards, gaining air, and literally flipping right over him.

As she flew over him, she knew she was going to have a rough landing. When she got close to a branch she knew she couldn't land on it, even if she wanted to. So, she tried grabbing it as she flew by. Wrong choice. Instead, she grabbed it, but it broke as soon as she did. She actually saw that coming and prepared for a rough collision with the ground. But, of course, she had to slam into multiple branches like a ping pong ball, breaking almost all of them, which actually slowed her fall down. When she got close to the ground, she grabbed onto the last branch. Thankfully, the branch didn't snap on her.

But there were plenty of branches flying down at her. Releasing the branch, Luana's feet hit the ground and she turned in her direction of running. She rushed away from the large branched, luckily able to miss each one entirely. But, she knew she couldn't stop just yet.

Add now spotting her bouncy brown hair, turned directions and continued on with the chase, this time on the ground. He sent kicks and punches her way, which caused his dynamos to create a type of electric wave to fly at her and hopefully hit. But, he missed thanks to Luana's sharp turning through the woods. As she kept running, Luana began to remember just how exactly she was able to escape the scientist so many times.

' _I hate to do this_ ,' Luana thought as she dodged another shot, ' _...But you leave me no choice!_ '

Luana dug her feet into the ground, her body turning and facing at as it came to a stand still. Add seeing this, took this as a chance to continue fire. He jumped into the air and threw more shocks at her. Luana skillfully dodged his attacks, only to turn towards him, feet wide apart, and bent towards the ground with her fist into the air. Luana punched the ground, causing it to break, just like it had in the storage house.

Add skidded to a stop as his eyes widened at this attack. He dived towards the ground and rolled, just barely missing the large pieces of rock flying at him. When he looked back at Luana, he spotted her running again. He growled and climbed back onto his feet.

"You're really getting on my nerves…!" Add yelled at her.

Luana, not quite hearing what he said, didn't stop to find out. She glanced over her shoulder, only for her eyes to widen as multiple purple spheres came her way. She forced herself to run faster as she saw a few go by and slam into the ground or trees.

She covered her head and dove behind a tree, feeling them hit the gigantic plant. She suddenly heard cracking, causing her eyes to widen in horror. She gazed up and saw the tree beginning to tip towards her. Luana crawled to get up fast, kicking herself onto her feet and dodged the crashing tree. When it slammed down the ground shook, causing Luana to stumble for a moment before continuing to run.

But, she had no idea how close Add had gotten to her. She suddenly felt something hit her wrist, causing her to spin back. As she spun, something hit her other wrist, causing her to fall to the ground. When she lifted her head up, she instantly spotted some type of metal cuffs on her hands, looking like thick, long bracelets that covered her entire wrist.

"What the hell…?" She muttered before sitting up.

She gazed back at Add, only to feel something slam into her neck, knocking her back. "Geh!"

Luana fell onto her back. She coughed, and frantically tried to stand up. Once on her feet she touched her neck, feeling a type of metal on it as well. She was utterly confused on how they got on her body so easily. But, when she lifted her head up to see a smirking Add, she realized it was his doing.

"The hell did you do?!" She instantly yelled at him.

"I knew you wouldn't come easily," Add said casually. "So I've created those to help me out. I'm sure you'll enjoy them~"

Luana clicked her tongue and glared harshly at him. She instantly grabbed the one on her neck and began to pull on it.

"Like hell I'll—" A sudden shock ran through her body, causing her to yell out. "AAAAH!"

It shocked her for a whole minute before stopping. It hurt so much that it brought Luana to her hands and knees. Her breathing suddenly began much heavier as she tried understanding what just happened. Add laughed at her pitiful state with a victorious smirk on his face.

"You lose, lab rat!" He sang. "You're now my experiment!"

"You bastard…!" Luana growled at him in hatred. "What did you do?!"

"The cuffs on your neck and wrist aren't exactly something to mess with." Add said and began circling her like a hawk. "And I have my own control to it if you were to ever try and attack me."

As if to prove his point, he pressed something in his hand. Instantly, Luana was shocked once again. She released a shout of pain from the cuffs as it ran through her entire body. Once it stopped she fell onto her stomach, trying to recover from the harsh attack. Add could only chuckle at her once more.

"You're my experiment from now," Add stated as he stood in front of her. "Once I collect my information on you, I won't have use of you anymore. So, until then, you'll be following me and will be doing every order I give you… like a dog."

"I'm really debating on killing you right now…" Luana threatened as she forced her body to sit up. "How did you make these things so damn powerful…?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." Add said and brought a finger to his lips while smirking still. "Now, I suggest that you be good from now on and do as I say. If not, well…" He pressed the button again. "You get the jist."

Luana released another shout, but forced herself to stay sitting. Once it stopped shocking her, she could feel her anger rising rather quickly. She yelled out in anger and punched the ground. Add, startled by her sudden action, became cautious of what she might do. Without even hesitating she threw a giant piece of rock at him. Add, unable to dodge, felt it collide right into him, causing him to slam down onto the ground. His head felt like he was spinning around in circles as his ears rung. Realizing what she did, Add pressed the button and held it in anger. Luana didn't release another shout, which was oddly unsettling. Once he recollected himself, he forced his body up until he was sitting.

With a sharp glare on his face, he looked over his shoulder to Luana. To his surprise, she was lying face first in the ground as purple electricity sparked around her body. Add released the button and stared at her for a bit. Her body twitched from the electricity, but she made no attempts to move or get up.

Add climbed up onto his feet and suddenly felt woozy. He felt something warm drip down the side of his head. Touching it, he realized it was his own blood. The girl had actually caused him to bleed. Normally, he would've growled in anger and probably would've kicked her knocked out body. But, his felt so light headed that thinking straight wasn't quite an option.

Staggering slightly, Add grunted softly as his body fell to the ground as well. He laid there, staring at Luana's unconscious figure. He glared at her as everything was slowly becoming fuzzy.

"Damn… you…" He murmured before passing out.

.

Add woke suddenly with a jolt.

He shot up, his breathing being heavy as he could tell he was covered in sweat. He was disgusted by this realization, but allowed it to slide for now. He had a very unwanted dream that he had just woke from. It was actually one of the main reasons for why he tried to avoid sleep. The lucid dreams keep reminding him of the past, which was a very touchy subject for him.

Sighing deeply, he wipe his forehead with the back of his hand, only to feel something that wasn't skin. Touching it carefully, he realized it was a type of wrapping. He was confused to why that was until his senses came back to him, causing him to be alert of his surroundings. He heard a crackling and popping sound, causing him to look to his right in the dark area.

Add realized that he was in a cave. And, sitting a good amount away from him by a fire was Luana, who was staring right at him. Add, at first, was actually spooked to see her illuminated features by the fire light.

Her honey colored eyes looked just as orange as the fire, but they radiated anything but warmth. Her bangs and long strands of hair casted shadows on her skin, which actually gave her an almost sinister look. Her lips were slightly apart as she seemed slightly surprised by him as well. But what kind of freaked him out the most was the large strand of hair that stood up on the top of her head and dropped forwards (the famous ahoge!). He felt foolish for actually being startled by her.

Recomposing himself, he glared at her as he remembered what happened. That's right… She had thrown a gigantic piece of the earth at him and gave him a concussion. In returned he shocked her, but they had both passed out in the end. Which now questions the lateness of the day and the crave…

"Well hello to you, too." Luana mumbled sarcastically. She gazed back at the fire and continued to do… whatever she was doing. "I honestly thought you wouldn't wake until morning. I did clobber you in the head with a rock, after all. Guess you have more muscle than I thought…"

"...Just, _what_ are you doing?" Add questioned as it was rather distracting to watch.

"Carving." Luana stated. She showed Add the wooden object that she kept digging a knife into. "I was planning on spear fishing by the stream for a meal. Let's just say that half of the supplies in my bag survived our earlier battle."

She looked away from him and continued to carve the piece of wood. Add fixed his sitting position, only to feel something flop into his lap. It was his jacket. He picked it up and inspected it.

"By the way," Luana spoke up again, "I took the liberty of washing your jacket along with the rest of my belongings. I'm amazed that I was even able to save it from all that blood, to be honest…"

"Why did you drag me here?" Add asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "You threatened to kill me, didn't you? Why'd you take me here instead of leaving me out to die?"

Luana stopped her movement. Her lips pressured firmly together as her expression was unrecognizable. She then continued to carve the stick.

"...Let's just say," she spoke softly, "that I have enough blood on my hands as it is. I didn't feel like adding you to the counter…"

Add stared at her for a moment. What did she mean by that? As curious as he was, he figured he shouldn't ask. After all, the girl that knocked him into a coma was wielding a knife. Like she said, he would rather stay away from that counter. But, it was still bugging him…

"I don't get it…" Add said as he wanted an answer from her. "After all I did to you, you still didn't allow me to die?"

"Just because you put me through a lot of shit doesn't mean I haven't forgotten the times you saved my life." Luana said as she held an aggravated undertone. "I repaid the favor. I couldn't just sit back and watch you die, even though you've pissed me off into oblivion. With your mentally illed mind, you just wouldn't get it… I might be a freak, but I'm still human… I at least have that right."

Add's eyes narrowed at her. It sounded like there was another meaning to what she said. But, he decided to let that rest for now. Add carefully pulled his jacket back on before facing the fire, but eyed Luana from the corner of his eye. She was… unreasonably calm about this. It was becoming really unnerving, which actually annoyed Add.

He was supposed to be the one giving her the chills, not the other way around. Just what the hell happened there? His infamous smirk crawled its way back onto his lips. He thought of something that she creep her out enough, or would at least give him some sort of response.

"You know," Add spoke up to her, "I forgot to mention just exactly would happen if you continuously got shocked by the cuffs."

Luana stopped carving, but didn't look at Add. It was clear that she was listening.

"...The interior would burn out, therefore burning and melting the metal." Add said in a casual manner. "It would burn your wrist and neck, probably killing you. So, I suggest that you stay in line so that doesn't happen."

"...Death would be a sweeter release than allowing myself to be your pathetic _dog_." Luana stated coldly and stood up.

Add froze and stared at her. He watched her close the knife before slipping it into her high boots. She turned with two sharp pointed sticks in hand and exited the cave. Once she was out of sight in the dark night, Add could only stare at where she had been. To hear her say such cold things was surprising, honestly.

Puzzled, he placed a hand on his chin in thought. It was so strange. She hadn't shown any sort of signs of morbid thinking from before. It never occurred to the boy that she might be possibly suicidal. When he thought about it longer, it actually made a bit of sense.

From what he understood, it was that she was an experiment from the black market scientist that not even the Vender Guards know about. She escaped and was hidden in that village for quite some times. The scientist want her back because she is, supposedly, the only proof of success of their experiments. From what she mentioned, the scientist have tormented her through the years, which most likely is the main source of her morbid thoughts.

' _The thought of being a lab rat sickens her so much that she would rather die,_ ' Add thought before smirking again. ' _Interesting… I guess I have to be more careful with her, then. I don't want her dying on me…_ '

Slowly, Add's infamous laughter began echoing through the cave, getting louder by the second. Little did he realize that, even with Luana at the stream, could she still hear him. A tic mark appeared on her head as she concealed the chills going through her body.

"Psychotic bastard…" She mumbled before thrusting her makeshift spear into the water.

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	8. Chapter 8

"Hey. Get up."

Luana felt a light kick to her bum.

' _You little…_ ' Luana tried to refrain from cursing as she groggily sat up.

She rubbed her eyes before taking in a big yawn. She hanged her head in a sleepy manner, still wanting the much needed sleep. But, once she heard the jingle of her bag and felt it practically get thrown next to her, she became wide awake. Luana shook her head lightly, trying to shake the sleepiness away.

"Collect your stuff," Add ordered as he began walking out of the cave. "You're still being hunted, after all. Can't stay in one place for too long, you know."

Luana looked over her shoulder and glared at his back.

Once he exited the cave, the girl sighed in annoyance before pushing herself onto her feet. She stretched her arms and legs out for a moment before grabbing her bag. She glanced around the cave to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything as she slipped her bag onto her bag.

Seeing nothing of importance, she turned and began walking out of the cave. Once outside, she glanced at the sky, seeing as it was still very much sunny. Luana held her arm out and gazed at her shadow to detect the time. Finding it rather early, she gazed at Add to see him messing with his multiple electronics. Whenever she gazed at him she felt like he was… out of this era, if that made any sense.

' _With technology like that_ ,' she thought, ' _he could advance ahead of every civilization here… He's a genius, but he's utterly insane… Why is that…?_ '

"We're not too far from the nearest village," Add said, snapping Luana out of thought. "Once there, you gather supplies while I take a look at the town. If there isn't anything interesting then we'll leave and head for Feita."

"What's in Feita?" Luana asked with a raised brow.

"You'll see…" Add said while giving her a chilling smirk.

Luana, unamused by his vagueness, found herself gazed at the bandages had wrapped around his head. They were partially stained red, but they still held together well. Still, it was worrying.

"Hey, um…" Luana reached her hand to his head. "How's your—"

"Don't touch me…!" Add hissed and got away from her reach. "Stay. Over. There!"

Luana was startled by this. She could only lift her hands up in surrender at him, trying to hopefully calm him down. He looked so panicked that she had no idea he could get that way. She had no idea why he was so defensive about being touched…

" _O-kaaaaay…_ " Luana mumbled. "I'm going to assume you're head's fine…"

"Worry about yourself instead." Add stated coldly before turning away from her and began walking. "We should get to this village without wasting anymore time. Hurry up."

' _You brat!_ ' Luana's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but with a big huff, she began following him.

Luana stayed a good distance away from Add as they walked. After that freak out moments ago, she figured that getting close to him was going to actually be impossible. It was so strange to her to why he freaked out like that. Now that she thought about it, he said that few times when they were in Elder. He always murmured something along the lines of not enjoying physical contact.

She didn't understand why he didn't enjoy physical contact. If anything Luana kind of strived for it. Ever since she was accepted into that little village she adored hugging, brushing past people, shaking hands and having normal human contact like that. She couldn't understand why Add didn't enjoy that.

Then again… she actually _could_ understand why…

Shaking away the bad thoughts, Luana stopped focusing on Add and just continued to follow him through the woods. She didn't dare to look back at the damage that they had created yesterday since it was quite a lot. If there was one thing she absolutely hated about her strength, it would be the destruction she always made by accident.

But, that shouldn't be her main focus right now. For now, she just focused on following Add to the village. It was clear to both of them that they had to be a bit fast for their pace. If the scientist were to find out about what or where Luana was right now, they wouldn't hesitate to take Add out and have her in their grasp again. If there was one thing Luana knew, it was that they never enjoyed having an experimentation taken away from them. Add technically did just that…

' _No matter how much of a brat he is,_ ' Luana thought to herself, ' _he's in a lot of danger. Those scientist know that I've been driven out of my village. Now, they'll do anything to make sure that they have me in their grasp. Even if it means taking out Add's life…_ '

"Hey."

"Huh…?"

"We're here."

Luana, who was snapped out of thought, gazed at her surroundings again to realize they made it to the village.

It was very small from what Luana could see. She noticed how the landscape was and kicked herself for not noticing it sooner. It was like the forest and greenery stopped while sand and dust began. The village was the very split of it. Luana found that very interesting since she lived in a village surrounded by greenery. She continued to follow Add while gazing around. Even though the place was small, there was still plenty of people around. But, she was so entranced by the new place she ended up bumping into Add, who had stopped walking.

"Oi." Add lightly growled at her.

"S-sorry…" She mumbled and quickly backed away from him.

"Stop daydreaming and focus," Add ordered rudely. Luana frowned at his tone and gave him a rather bland expression.

"You're searching for info while I look for goods like food, right?" Luana grumbled.

"Ah, so you do have a brain!" Add sarcastically said, causing Luana to flinch at the sudden insult. "We don't have much time. Gather whatever and when you're finish you stay right next to that building, got it?"

Luana looked to the building he was pointing to. She sighed softly before gazing back to him. "Was the insult _really_ necessary?"

"Yes." Add stated before turning away from her. "Now go collect… stuff."

Luana watched him walk away, silently fuming, as tried to calm herself so she could looked for a possible food store. Once she found herself in a calm state of mind, she began searching. She asked a local or two for directions for a place she could get food and they suggested the local alchemist to her.

Thanking them, she looked for the village alchemist. When she found them, she greeted the man politely and asked if he sold food. Luckily, he did, much to Luana's relief. She talked to him for a bit before trading some currency with the man. She collected what she needed and packed them into her bag. Thanking him, she walked off to a local watering well.

She took out some canisters from her bag and began scooping up as much water a she could. She tightened each cap before placing them back on her bag. Just as she finished, she heard a very loud noise come from nearby.

Becoming puzzled, Luana gazed at the locals. Only a few seem to notice and stare at the direction it came from. Luana, being the curious creature that she was, slowly made her way towards the noise. She soon found herself standing in front of a wooden building. She wondered if she should walk up to the porch and see what was going on inside.

' _This isn't my hometown_ ,' Luana reminded herself and turned her back to the building. ' _I could cause a lot of trouble for snooping around. It's best if I just leave it be…_ '

Just as she was about to step away, a loud sound came from behind her as warm air attacked her back, causing her hair to flutter in the wind. Luana whirled around in alarm to see a gigantic hole in the top floor of the house.

"Wh-what the…?!" Luana whispered in shock and stepped back.

A familiar, psychotic laugh could be heard, causing Luana to feel chills go up her spine.

"Is that…-"

A familiar white haired figure jumped out of the hole and to the ground, his smirking expression wide and full of psychotic mischief. With his Dymanos flying to his aid, they brought him to the ground before Luana.

"-...Add!?" Luana exclaimed.

"Don't just stand there," he laughed and began running. "We've got stuff to destroy! Kahahaha!"

"W-what did you do?!" Luana yelled and dashed after him, quickly catching up to him.

"Just run." Add ordered.

Luana released a groan before looking over her shoulder. She witnessed two large men and one woman jump out of the same hole that Add created. The girl shouted something while pointing at Luana and Add. Quickly, all three of them began running after the two. Luana's eyes widened as they were catching up.

"Add! They're chasing after us, and fast!" She warned.

"Hmph," Add peeked over his shoulder while his smirk grew. "Perfect victims to test on, kehehe. They think they can catch up to me?! How amusing!

"You really are insane…" Luana mumbled before running slightly ahead of Add. "We got to get out of here and get them off of our tail. Hope you can keep up!"

"Huh?" Add was surprised to see her speeding up by the second. "Interesting… Interesting indeed, hehehe."

He jumped up and his Dynamos latched to his feet. He quickly sped forwards, instantly catching up with her and keeping pace. Luana didn't dare to look back. She could see enough of Add's white pants and purple weapons to know he's fine. As she ran she could feel her feet kicking up sand through the desert land. She hopes that it might hit each of their pursuers in the eyes.

After a while of running, Luana wondered if they were still following. She looked over her shoulder in concern, only to be surprised that they were gone. There was no way they lost them in that amount of time. She took a glance to Add, seeing his smug expression, and began to adjust her running speed.

"Should we stop?" Luana asked.

"Not until Feita!" Add said loudly so she could hear.

"Can we at least slow down?" Luana asked.

Add eyed her from the corner of her eye for a moment before sighing. "Fine."

Luana instantly slowed herself, trying to be wary of the sand under her shoes. She released a tired sigh, glad to have stopped pushing herself to run. Add hopped off of his machines and began strolling beside her. Luana would be lying if she said she wasn't envious of the fact that he is able to ride his machines and no get tired.

"Just… What the hell was that?" Luana asked him, making sure she was in his view so he couldn't dodge her. "Who were those guys? And why did you destroy that building?!"

"Calm down," Add hissed at her and flicked her forehead, causing her to scrunch up her nose in pain. "You're so loud… Let's just say, I stumbled upon some unwanted visitors of the town and took care of it. But, they were pretty persistent…"

"Just what did you find?" Luana asked in concern. "Those people aren't ordinary people. They look…"

"So," Add looked at her with a large smirk, "you've noticed…?"

Luana's eyes widened in horror as halted her steps. Add stopped and turned to her, finding her terrified expression amusing.

"No way…" She mumbled. "W-were those guys lab experiments?!"

"Ding ding ding! Someone give her a prize!" Add sarcastically did jazz hands before continuing to walk, forcing Luana to follow. "You're right. They're lab experiments 978, 979, and 856. Any of those numbers ring a bell to you?"

Luana tried searching her memory banks for those numbers. Sadly, there was nothing familiar of that. She shook her head as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration.

"I can't remember anything…" She mumbled before allowing her arms to fall to her sides. "What did those guys want from you? And what _exactly_ did you do?"

"Let's just say I snuck in, stole a few papers—no big deal." Add shrugged casually.

"It is a big deal if it came from _lab experiments_ like _me_ ," Luana exclaimed and ran ahead and faced him so he could see her concern, now walking backwards. "Look, Add. This is now _extremely_ serious. What did you take from them?"

"They had papers about you," Add answered, his smirk not faltering for a moment. "Had to get my hands on them. Experiments 978 and 979 aren't the brightest of the bunch, looking a lot like twins to be honest. But 856, haha—now she's a real bitch. She instantly found what I was doing and knew exactly who I was. Apparently, some guy in Elder confessed to seeing you and I together. Now, the scientist want both of our heads. Pretty exciting, don't you think?"

" _You…_ " Luana yelled out in frustration and stopped Add from walking past her. "You _idiot_! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Why didn't you just find me right away so we could've gotten out of there without those three on our tails?! I knew this was a bad idea the moment you said you wanted me to follow you!"

"And just what are you rambling about?" Add asked, trying hard to ignore the insult.

"You know for a fact that I'm being hunted for!" Luana exclaimed. "Now that they know that you're with me they'll kill you just for ' _having'_ me! They don't like having their missing toys stolen from them, and you also stole information from the experiments! A big _no_ for them! It's already too late. You just sealed your fate!"

"Did… did you just rhyme?" Add raised a brow at her.

"You…!" Luana released a frustrated groan and stomped the ground. "Listen to me, damn it! You already killed one of their important scientist back in Elder, you've stolen me from their grasp, and you just took documents from the experiments who are probably hunting me down. You just written your death receipt!"

"And your point?" Add asked her while looking unamused.

"Those scientist won't be leaving you alone anymore!" Luana said as he was becoming more aggravating by the second. "If those papers you stole had information on me then it's clear they're after me! Those bastards probably set them after me to test their skills for information, like usual. They're never satisfied with any sort of test results. Death is a sweeter reward than being with them…"

"You're being too dramatic about this," Add sighed while shaking his head at her. "I already knew the consequences the moment I agreed with Dr. Lenchong to go and nab you for a deal. I still have yet to complete my gathering of data. Those three experiments would be a nice way to test it out…"

"Wait, what…?" Luana's eyebrows furrowed together as her voice became soft.

"Those three aren't going to let us catch our breaths." Add stated and began walking, forcing Luana to follow once more as she kept pace. "They're going to contact their spies and goons in the nearby villages, most likely. Therefore, we can't stop in the villages for a while. If they catch us, or we bump into them, we'll most likely will have to fight them to get through. When that happens, I'll be able to collect my data on all of you."

"You… Why are you so obsessed about data?" Luana asked.

"That is for me to know and for you to never question again." Add stated.

"No." Luana grabbed Add by the back of his hood and yanked him back. "Stop being so fucking vague and give me a straightforward ans—AAAaahhhh!"

Purple sparks zapped all over Luana's body, forcing her to release her hold of Add. She yelled in pain, forcing her to fall to the ground as her body was becoming numb. Her ears began ringing, making it hard to hear. She glared up at Add, who was now standing before her with a wide smirk, as spots flew over her eyesight. Slowly, she felt herself become unconscious.

" _Idiot_." Add hissed at her and kicked her back. "You keep forgetting that you're a captive. Now, how can I get you moving now that you're unconscious…?"

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	9. Chapter 9

Add was strongly believing that he was wasting his time.

But, with a lot of talking to himself aloud, he continuously convinced himself that having Luana around would be useful. Though her being unconscious wasn't helping. He was glad she was knocked out so he didn't have to be annoyed with her voice, asking questions a mile per minute, but it was terrible, _terrible_ timing. Those enhanced human experiments were totally after them, and the only person who might actually be able to take them on just had to Luana.

So now he kind of had only one option. Add carried Luana using his Dynamos and continued traveling. At least he was able to make it past one village before having to stop again. His Dynamos could only fly for so long, along with carrying a human body. It became tedious after the third time. It also didn't help that it was becoming nightfall pretty quickly, which might cause them more trouble.

"A least we're at the borderline of the Feita camp…" Add grumbled to himself.

He glanced at Luana's unconscious body. When is she going to wake up? He was becoming irritated by the second. Whether she was awake or asleep, she still is somehow a nuisance to him.

"You're far more trouble than you're worth…" Add growled at her.

Of course, she couldn't respond.

"...Oi." Add nudged her back with his foot. "You conscious yet?"

She didn't even stir. Annoyed, Add put more strength in his foot to see if she'd react. Nothing. He retracted his leg, only to kick her right in her butt like he usually would do in the mornings. But he put far more strength in this kick than usual.

Luana still didn't react. If anything, it only caused her to roll over onto her other side. Add was baffled by how unresponsive her body was. Usually she was one to recover quickly. It was actually strange to see her not even flinch since Add had actually done this to her multiple times. Luana just didn't know because he would do this while she slept when he had nothing better to do through the night.

"Heh…" Add laughed dryly. "It's like she's dead, hehe…"

Immediately he frowned at his statement. She… really did look dead. Just as he was about to scoff at his wild thoughts, a sudden noise could be hear. He whirled around in that direction and stared. A few bushes swayed in his sights, which put the boy on high alert. Add bent down and grabbed Luana's shoulder and began roughly shaking her.

"Come on…" He growled. "Wake up already…!"

The sound of metal immediately grabbed his attention.

Add looked in the direction of the bushes, only to see a sickle and chain flying straight at him. Not suspecting it, Add yelped in surprise and jumped out of the way. Thankfully, it flew over Luana's sleeping body and hit the ground behind her. Add followed the chain to feel dread in his stomach to find the owner of it.

Holding onto the chain was a familiar buffed man. _Experiment 978_. Add immediately rushed to his feet, only to see another chain fly at him. It tightly wrapped around his leg and pulled, causing him to slam onto the ground. Add looked over his shoulder to find the owner of that chain. _Experiment 979_. Just as he was about to question where the last one was, he suddenly felt cold metal against his neck, causing him to freeze his body. A familiar feminine chuckle rang in his ears as he was now feeling hot breath on the back of his neck and ear.

"Hehe, that was easy, don't you think?" Said the girl. _Experiment 856_. "Now, stay down like a good boy and let us do our job."

Add felt the knife go away from his neck. As soon as it was gone, he rolled onto his back and tried to get up. But, sudden chains came from the ground and wrapped around his body, now restraining him tightly. Add gritted his teeth in pain by the tightness of the metal.

"Good work, Mikey," said the voice of the girl. The sounds of footsteps could be heard until a full figure of a girl appeared. "Your chain technique will never cease to amaze me. Keep him restrained. Our target is the girl."

Add tried fighting the chains, only to feel them tighten against his body with every struggle he makes. He tried to keep his mouth close so the weren't satisfied with his painful grunts. He could only gaze at Luana's unconscious body as the two human experiments walked over to her. Experiment 856 laughed at Luana's unconscious state. She grabbed a handful of the girl's hair and lifted her head up.

" _Wooow_ ," she laughed. "How pathetic. It's a shame she can't see the glorious sight of he little buddy. Too bad she couldn't watch us kill him. I really wanted to hear some screams…"

856 dropped Luana's head like it was a spec of dust and stood up. She looked to her companion and ordered him to grab Luana. 856 turned to Add with a wide smirk on her face as she flipped her dagger in her hand.

"Now, time to take care of the other part of my job." She said, only to disappear from sight.

Add clicked his tongue, clearly unamused. "The ability to be invisible and the manipulation of twin chains, huh? It's interesting in how those doctors can give such abilities to experiments like you."

"Shut the hell up," Growled the girl as she showed herself standing over him. "They are psychotic freaks who enjoy nothing but manipulation, blood and screams. They'll do anything to get a good sample, or even a reaction. Torture. Drugs. Battle. Sex, even. Hell, they'll go through your corpse if it means gaining data."

' _That's… exactly what Luana said…_ ' Add realized quickly.

"Tell me, what's a freak like her have anything that interests you?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Add smirked. "She's precious data, just like you three are. Once I'm done, I'll leave her just like the those scientist will."

"You prick…" she growled and grabbed Add by the neck. He instantly choked, unable to fight her with bound hands. His dynamos were still charging from before, so he was defenseless against the experiment. "I'm not killing you because I was told you, oh no," the girl above him chuckled as she raised her knife high. "I'll kill you for being just like those psychotic bastards!"

Just as she striked down, a suddenly blur slammed into her. Add was startled by this, now being able to breathe properly, now looking over to where she went. Experiment 979 just flew through the air as if he was thrown and slammed into 856. Add looked over to his right to see a now standing Luana as she held her pocket knife in her hand. And she looked _pissed_.

"I don't do well being in chains…" Luana stated and began walking towards them.

Experiment 979 jumped out from the bushes of where he stood and rushed at Luana. He thrusted a fist at her, only for her to instantly grab his hand as if it was nothing. Add was shocked since 979's hand was a big as three of her heads.

With one hand, Luana grabbed him and lifted him in the air with one hand. She instantly threw him at the others at they tried getting up. His body slammed into the two, knocking them down all at once again. Luana got to where Add laid and threw the knife on the glowing chain, somehow breaking it instantly. She held her hand to him to help him stand, but the expression on her face made him want to do anything but that. But, much to his dismay, he grabbed her hand and felt himself get yanked up.

"I'm still pissed that you knocked me unconscious," Luana said once Add was on his feet. "But, I don't feel like hearing you die on me. Oh, and by the way…" She punched his arm, causing him to yell in pain as he held it. "That's for kicking me so many goddamn times. I may be unconscious but I can still feel that shit."

"Grr… I rather have you unconscious…" Add growled under his breath since she harmed him.

"The feeling is mutual," she said before looking at the three experiments before her. "Now, leave these three to me. You've done enough damage for tonight…"

Add watched her make her way to the three experiments before her. The three finally got back onto their feet and were now glaring at her. The girl disappeared again and the twins reacted fast by slamming their fist into the ground which caused the same glowing chains to appear and fly at Luana.

But she was fast too.

As the chains flew at her she got her leg up and kicked the ground. She broke the ground and a bunch of boulders came flying at them. Luana jumped back, seeing that it didn't stop the chains, but it did get the two to move away from her. But as she landed on her feet she suddenly felt her eyes burn. Luana yelped and jumped back again, knowing she got away from her attacker.

"Foolish girl," spoke the familiar voice of 856. "And they say you were ruthlessly clever. Pah! Don't you know never to turn your back on an enemy?"

"You asked for it…" Luana growled at her.

Luana kept her eyes closed and slammed her hands onto the ground. She focused her mind on her other senses, waiting to see what they'll do. She heard footsteps rushing towards her and lifted her foot up and kicked. Experiment 856 was knocked back, causing her to show herself. She grunted as she hit the ground, her dagger flying out of her hand.

"I thought those scientist taught you guys more than that," Luana taunted as she began making her way towards the girl. "I hope you haven't forgotten that my strength isn't all that I have…"

Just as she was about to punch towards the girl, the sound of chains grabbed Luana's attention. She quickly jumped up, completely dodging the chain attack. Add, who had been standing back the entire time, saw the attack coming at him and dodged it. He stayed out of the way and began watching the event, taking notes and data of how they all attacked. Luana did say he's done enough for today…

When she landed back onto the ground, she rubbed her eyes with her arm, now being able to see again. She growled under her breath and got ready for another attack from the three. 856 went after her dagger while the 978 and 979 advanced towards Luana with their white, glowing chains they continuously summon. This was becoming annoying for Luana.

This time, she got ready for their attack. They both threw their chains in her direction at a very fast speed. Luana prepared herself and watched them carefully. She grabbed the chains as they were about to wrap around her and yanked on them, now finding herself in a tug-a-war with the twins. But experiment 856 wasn't one to be ignored. She reappeared behind Luana with her dagger at the ready. But Luana didn't need her sight to know she was behind her.

Just as she striked her dagger at her, Luana kicked her leg up, causing the blade to hit her shoe. Much to experiment 856's surprise, her blade didn't go through the clothe. She jumped back and glared at Luana from a distance.

"How did that not go through…?!" She growled.

"Heh." Luana smirked and yanked on both chains, and began to walk in a circle, causing the twins to fly into the air. "Go through this instead…!"

Luana swing the brothers at the girl and was able to get her caught into the chains. Still having her grip on them, Luana began running around the in between the three, watching them try to grab her as she flew past. When she yanked on the chains she watched the magic happen and tied them all together. The experiments struggled against the chins, but not even the twins could break free.

"Add, quick!" Luana yelled at him. "Get their necks, quick!"

"What…?" Add was surprised to hear her say that.

"Their necks!" She shouted again at him. "Get. Their. Necks."

Add looked back at the three, only to see what she actually meant. Add smirked and rushed at them, his Dynamos now activated and working properly. He swiped at their necks, his hands covered in electricity as he swung.

Each of them flinched and closed their eyes, prepared for death to take them. That did not happen. When they figured that out, they opened their eyes and stared at Luana and Add. Luana released her hold of the chains and began running. Add tossed the tied up objects that he snatched for their necks at her. Luana jumped up and kicked the objects as hard as she could. They flew up into the air at a very fast speed.

Add had his hand on his brow as he calculated the speed and trajectory of the object until the two watched it explode in the sky. Luana sighed in exhaustion from the panic while Add chuckled lightly at the new data he collected.

"My, my, now that was a sight." He said and looked at Luana. "Let's do it again! I want to see just how far and fast you can kick."

"I'm tempted to kick you as fast and as far as I can…" Luana grumbled and walked past him.

The trio experiments gazed at them in shock, only for the chains to suddenly disappear. Each of them shared confused glances with each other until Luana was standing in front of them. She bent down and put her hand out to 856.

"I know you're tired, but you can't rest just yet." Luana spoke in a very soft manner compared to before. "There's still a lot for you three to do, after all."

"Why did you…?" 856 hesitantly grabbed her hand, clearly unsure to trust her.

"You forget," Luana smiled and lifted her to her feet. "I was in the same situation that you guys are in." She went to each brother and helped them up. "Except, I had no one with me to get me through it. It's hard to go through all those experiments in the hands of those scientist. I know precisely what they do. I basically have it molded into my brain, hehe…"

The three gazed at her in shock. She looked so cold and angry before, but now it was like she was someone else entirely. It actually made the three uneasy.

"But… that doesn't make any sense…" Muttered 856 in slight shock.

"We attacked you," spoke one of the twins in a very gruff voice.

"And almost killed you." Said the other in a gruff but lighter than his brother's voice.

"Aren't you going to kill us?" They asked in unison.

"She might not, but I certainly will…" Growled Add who stood far behind Luana.

"I thought you said they're 'precious data,'" Luana taunted at him with a slight growl in her tone. "Won't it be a big waste if you killed them? Huh…?"

Add glared at her and grumbled something. He looked away from her, telling Luana that she bested him at that. Still, it made her feel angry that he would say such a thing. She shook her head and looked at the three before her, who looked very uneasy.

"Ignore that," Luana told them in a calm manner. "I won't let him touch you guys. I'm not as murderous as I once was when I prisoner by those scientist. I don't enjoy killing."

"But we tried killing you…" Muttered 856.

"So?" Luana shrugged and pointed her thumb over at Add. "He and I almost killed each other yet we're still stuck together." She glared at the cuff on her wrist. "Even though it's through very unwilling circumstances…"

"We do we do now?" Asked 979.

"Simple." Luana smiled at them. "You're not those laboratory's puppets anymore. You're free now. Start anew and forget the past. Yes, it's going to be hard, but it's better than being in that hell hole. Travel around and fight the scientist, just like I'm doing. You might not be able to stay in one place for long, but just keep reminding yourself that you're not in their hands. You can finally gain the rights that you were born to have; you gain the right to be the living being that you are. Treasure it and never let it go."

The three looked at each other in uncertainty. The girl stepped towards Luana, her lips quivering, as it looked like she was prepared to cry at any moment but held strong.

"How did you know about the security collars…?" She asked.

"I used to have those on, too." Luana muttered while looking to the ground in a sad manner. "They give you a small zap every hour, even at night, making sleep almost impossible. If you try to take them off yourself, they will instantly detonate. That is, unless electricity is sparking through them, causing the detonate to delay."

Add's ears perked up at this. He looked back at her to heard her clearly.

"No one should go through the hell we've all been through," Luana said with a very stern expression. "I refuse to be their lab rat anymore. I'm going to make sure that I live like the living being that I am that those scientist stole from me. I strongly believe that all of you should do so, too. You should go. If we all stay here for too long, the scientist might realize what happened."

"Thank you, miss," said one brother.

"May we at least ask for your name before departing?" Asked the other. "Numbers just don't seem pleasing to call each other."

"I agree with you on that," Luana smiled lightly. "I am Luana."

"Samuel," said one brother. "Sam for short."

"Michael, or Mikey, as I am mostly called." Said the other.

"...Amelia," said the girl. "Call me Amelia."

"Well, Sam, Mikey, and Amelia, I wish you all the best of luck." Luana said kindly.

"To you as well." Sam said.

"Don't be a stranger now, you hear?" Amelia said now smiling.

"May the goddesses watch over you," said Mikey.

Luana waved them goodbye and watched them all walk away together. Once they were out of sight, she sighed loudly and fell back onto the ground. She stayed sitting up and ran a hand through her bangs. That was more of an emotional rollercoaster than she thought it would be. Add walked over to her and clapped his hands in a slow, almost taunting, manner. Luna could only glare up at him.

"Well done," Add complimented. "Not only are you incredibly strong but you have amazingly enhanced senses as well. How the hell do you keep getting caught when you have such high senses?"

"It's not easy, you know..." Luana grumbled at him. "It's hard to explain how my abilities work."

"Do tell." Add said and bent down towards her with a smug smirk.

"I'm still mad at you." She stated and looked away from him, clearly angry. "Did it even occur to you to help me out in that fight?"

"You had it covered," Add waved at her. "Plus, you said I did enough damage, after all. Why interrupt such a wonderful moment in collecting my data?"

"You and your data…" Luana growled softly, glaring up at him. "One of these days, it's going to be the thing that gets you killed."

"I'd like to see that happen," Add chuckled to himself before straightening up. "But, I've got to say, I never would've thought you'd be able to stop those three with simple talking. I figured they'd kill us both in an instant."

"That's because you haven't been through what I've been through," Luana said and stood up from her position. "In the cases with the scientist and doctors, everyone who is their experiment are innocent souls that have been stolen by their hands. Whenever we meet someone from the labs, we should try to free them from their collars and allow them to escape. It's not like they became experiments of their own free will, you know..."

"...You'd be surprised with how alike we actually are…" Add whispered.

"Hm?" Luana looked at him with a raised brow. "Did you say something? Your voice is so soft that sometimes it's hard to hear what you say…"

"I said nothing." Add lied smoothly before raising his own brow at her. "But, I have to ask, just how many experiments do they have?"

"Who's to say…" Luana shrugged and solemnly looked to the ground. "But, there's a reason why each of us are given numbers instead of names… There's probably thousands by now…"

Add became intrigued with what she said. Just how many people did they take as living experiments? From the look on her face, it's clear that she's very upset from it. He could only sigh in his thoughts as he knew this was going to be more trouble than it's worth.

"Just what exactly did those scientist do to you in the labs?" Add asked her.

Luana stiffened and looked very alarmed. "I-I… T-that's not something I can casually talk about… I prefer to not think about it…"

' _So much for that effort_ ,' Add thought in annoyance. He looked to the sky to see that night time has finally arrived. ' _With those guys attacking us, other goons from the scientist are probably close by…_ '

"We need to get moving." Add said and quickly did an analysis check on his weapons. "Like you told those guys, the scientist probably aren't too far behind. It's best if we start moving now."

"But… to where?" Luana asked as she walked over to her bag.

"Technically, we're still on the border of Feita," Add said. "We need to keep advancing forwards until we reach a specific camp. Then the real testing can begin."

"...What do you mean by that?..." Luana mumbled while strapping her bag on.

"Let's just say…" Add widely smirked at her. "We're demon hunting in Feita…"

"'Demon hunting'…?" Luana quoted with a raised brow.

"You'll see~" Add chuckled softly.

' _There's that crazed look again…_ ' Luana thought uncomfortably.

With her bag on her back, and Add's dynamos still in check, the two headed off towards a camp grounds in Feita. Little did Luana realize just how serious this situation was going to get.

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End file.
